DALTON, Ga. — A 53-year-old LaFayette man was recently found not guilty by a Whitfield County jury after being charged with aggravated assault with an automobile and aggravated assault with intent to murder.

According to a press release from the public defender, the one-day trial of Gary Wayne Wallin ended with the jury finding Wallin not guilty in less than an hour.

Wallin was represented by David Tatem of the public defender’s office. Wallin faced a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison for both charges, according to the press release.

“I’m pleased that Mr. Wallin’s name has been cleared in a public courtroom,” Tatem said in the press release. “Mr. Wallin will go home a free man because the jury believed, as I believe, that he is a truthful man.”

The press release said the prosecutor contended that Wallin ran into a woman with his car twice with the intent to murder. Tatem “argued that the alleged victim suffered no injuries and the state did not present a whole case,” the press release said. “Numerous witnesses to the incident were not called by the prosecutor.”

Messages left for District Attorney Bert Poston were not immediately returned.