[420 Girl]

On Wednesday in La Salle County Circuit Court, several jurors shook hands with an emotional Loren J. Swift after finding him not guilty of a marijuana charge that would have sent him to prison.

"I'm so relieved. I've got my life back. I'm so grateful," a teary Swift told reporters outside the courtroom."I'm going to dedicate my life to doing what's right," which he explained meant he was going to get himself reinstated in the Jehovah's Witnesses.

The five-woman, seven-man jury deliberated about two hours, giving the verdict at 1:30 p.m. The 59-year-old Swift, of rural Streator, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. The state police drug task force arrested him Oct. 26, 2007, at his home, saying they found 25 pounds of marijuana and 50 pounds of marijuana plants. He spent 49 days in custody before posting $10,000 bond. His record included a conviction in 2003 for possession of a small amount of marijuana.

Jurors were chosen Monday and testimony began Tuesday, with Circuit Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. presiding. In the courthouse lobby, after the verdict, two male jurors talked and laughed with Swift and his attorney, Randy Gordon; one of the jurors patted Swift on his back. However, one of these jurors refused to admit he was a juror when The Times approached him for comment about the verdict; the other juror didn't deny he was indeed a juror, but nevertheless refused to talk.

Gordon told reporters he believed a key portion of testimony that favored his client was from a prosecution chemist, who didn't know how much of the plants seized could be smoked, with Gordon noting the stalk and sterile seeds of a marijuana plant are not illegal. Gordon, of Morris, was a La Salle County prosecutor for several years in the 1990s.

During the trial, Swift testified he smoked marijuana to relieve physical pain, as well as to cope with posttraumatic stress syndrome. Swift served aboard an aircraft carrier for 10 months in 1970 off shore of Vietnam during the conflict there, involved with the landing and launching of helicopters. He also flew helicopter missions to Vietnam to deliver supplies.

Swift denied he sold marijuana, as Prosecutor Pete Siena alleged.

Jurors interrupted their deliberations at one point, to re-enter the courtroom and look at evidence, including containers of marijuana, scales and a heat vacuum sealer that were set in the middle of the courtroom. They then returned to the jury room, delivering the verdict shortly after. Police and the prosecutor alleged the scales and sealer showed Swift packaged marijuana for sale, but admitted they found no records, small plastic bags or phone numbers that also would have suggested Swift sold the drug.

Police testified that after they went to Swift's home in 2007, Swift invited them inside his house, leading them through rooms where he had marijuana, including a cedar-lined room Swift used for drying marijuana. He also showed them a garden overgrown with weeds, in which marijuana plants were hidden.

State's Attorney Brian Towne said the seized marijuana and plants would be taken to a state facility, where drugs seized by police anywhere in Illinois are burned. He added police had seized 80 pounds of marijuana from Swift, but the state laboratory only had time to process 25 pounds as evidence.

Swift wore a suit and tie during his trial, as he did at almost every previous court hearing. At recent hearings and at trial, he walked hunched, used a cane and wore a medical-style boot on his right foot.

One of the male jurors who congratulated Swift in the lobby, also used a cane, having an artificial leg. After the trial, a courthouse security officer found this juror had carried a cell phone into the courtroom inside the leg, although cell phones are prohibited in courtrooms.

A couple of courthouse observers speculated after the verdict that jurors had engaged in "jury nullification," meaning jurors believed Swift was guilty, but did not believe he deserved punishment, so voted not guilty.

After a reporter asked Gordon if he believed jurors ruled for Swift out of sympathy, Gordon said they should have ruled for Swift, because Swift was not guilty.

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