[420 Girl]

A Belmont man accused of possessing over five pounds of marijuana was found innocent by a jury in Belknap County Superior Court.

Police said Gordon D. Walker, 58, of 130 Depot St., knowingly accepted a package from Texas that contained just over five pounds of pot.

"[The prosecutor] didn't prove that he knew it definitely," said juror Steven Achber, who said Judge Kathleen McGuire's instructions to the jury was that if there was any "plausible scenario" that Walker did not know what was in the package they had to acquit.

"It was plausible," Achber said.

Achber said jury members deliberated for about an hour last Wednesday and resumed deliberations for about two hours Thursday before they announced their verdict. He said initially they took a straw vote and at least eight jurors didn't think Walker was guilty.

"We discussed and reviewed the case and came to a unanimous decision," said Achber, who said he was not the foreman.

According to defense attorney James Moir, Walker signed for a Federal Express package for his neighbor and sometime employee who had said it was a present for his girlfriend and he didn't want his wife to know about it.

Acting on a tip about the package contents from police in Lawrence, Mass., Belmont Police Chief Vincent Baiocchetti sent two officers to the Federal Express facility in Gilford and located the package.

Judge Lucinda V. Sadler granted a search warrant and the package was opened and its contents field tested positive for THC — the active ingredient in marijuana. An undercover officer delivered the package to Walker, who signed for it and was immediately arrested. The Belknap Regional Special Operation Team secured and searched the premises.

Moir said Belknap County Attorney James Carroll did not object when he made two motions to exclude the presence of a SWAT team and some prescription drugs found in Walker's home.

"The prescription drugs were never tested," said Moir in explaining their exclusion. "The SWAT team was irrelevant."

"All I know is that it doesn't pay to be a nice guy," Walker said on Monday.

He said the neighbor "packed up and hightailed it" after the arrest.

"I guess he got his own lawyer," he added.

He said he was glad to put the past eight months behind him and get on with the rest of his life, describing the past eight months as an "expensive nightmare."

"I'm a car dealer, not a drug dealer," Walker said.



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