HOT SPRINGS - When Brett Jarman took the witness stand in his aggravated assault trial, the first question he was asked by defense attorney Tim Rensch was, "Have you been waiting a long time for this day?"

"You bet," Jarman responded quickly. "I have waited a long time."

A Fall River County jury found Jarman not guilty of the aggravated assault charge, as well as an alternate charge of simple assault, late Wednesday evening, following a two-day trial at the courthouse.

Jarman, the former police chief in Edgemont and 2010 Fall River County Sheriff candidate, had been charged from an incident that took place at his Edgemont home, in August of 2010. Walleska Serafin of Casper, Wyo., was the alleged victim in the incident.

"Personally I am very happy that Mr. Jarman has been vindicated," said Rensch the day after the verdict was announced. "A man's house is his castle, and when you tell somebody to leave, they should leave."

Jarman testified that after returning from a week in Sturgis at the 2010 rally, Serafin had wanted to know where their relationship was going. Both principals in the incident testified to an on-again, off-again relationship. They had broken up in October of 2009 and did not speak to each other before going to the rally, with Jarman's son Dustin.

"She got upset when we discussed our relationship and I told her what I needed for it to continue," Jarman said. He testified that he requested unobstructed communication and an end to what he termed as "hostile responses," by Serafin to phone calls he received.

"She said she had to have unconditional love to be in a relationship," Jarman said.

The argument continued until Jarman testified that he suggested that Serafin "just leave and go home. Please just leave."

This was on Sunday evening, Aug. 15. Serafin did leave, but returned when storms came up on her route home. She stayed at Jarman's house that night.

The next morning, Jarman testified he went for coffee and when he returned he began working on his computer and talking on the phone. "She came out of the living room and demanded to know if I was having an affair with the person on the phone," Jarman said. "She was swearing and very upset."

Both agreed that Serafin threw items belonging to Jarman against a rock fireplace in his living room. Jarman testified that the brass figurines were valuable to him. He then said that she attempted to remove a sword from its holder on the wall.

"That's when things changed," he said.

He testified that he approached Serafin, who was unable to remove the sword. She then instead grabbed a carved elephant from a shelf. She turned to throw it and that is where the stories diverge.

Serafin claimed that Jarman had then executed a martial arts move called a "side-thrust kick" to her left knee, dropping her to the floor. Jarman testified that he had moved closer to Serafin, using his left hand to block her right (throwing) shoulder, while "hooking" or pinning her left arm against his side.

Under direct examination, Jarman said he was protecting himself and his property when he stopped Serafin's throwing motion.

"I felt her collapse," he testified, "and cradled her head so it wouldn't strike the rocks." He said that Serafin was screaming that he had broken her leg.

"Did you kick her," Rensch asked, "as she has claimed?"

"I absolutely did not," Jarman said. "I stepped toward her, to block the throw and she went down."

He said throughout the throwing incidents he had been repeatedly asking Serafin to put his things down, to not touch them and to leave his house and to go home. "I just wanted her out of the house," he said.

Under cross examination, special prosecutor Todd Love asked Jarman why he didn't just walk away from the situation.

"I feel that my house is mine and I can defend myself and my property as I see fit in my house," Jarman said.

He continued that he attempted to use Serafin's phone to call 911, but it was a different phone than his and he couldn't operate it. She requested the phone and called Dustin to come and help her.

"Why didn't you call for police or an ambulance?" Rensch asked Serafin under cross examination. "I don't know; I guess I was just upset and wanted to call someone I knew," she said.

Rensch also asked Serafin, who is a 2nd degree black belt in a form of jujitsu, why she didn't execute a defense move when "he moved to execute this side kick as you claim?"

Serafin said that Jarman was moving too quickly for her to defend herself. Jarman is a 4th degree black belt in a different form of jujitsu, and has also attained black belts in both karate and judo.

Both parties testified that a discussion led them to return Serafin to Casper to seek medical assistance. Jarman took her in his pickup after loading her motorcycle.

On the way to Casper, he testified that she said, "I'm gonna tell them that you kicked me," when asked about her injury. Jarman testified that he told her that he wanted to take her to the police station and have everything over once and for all. "I told her, ‘Just tell the truth, Walleska, tell the truth.'"

After conferring with Dustin on the phone, he said he took her to her home and that she drove herself to seek medical treatment. He said he accompanied her to get help, but that she got upset, took him back to his truck and he went home to Edgemont.

Doctor Joseph McGinley testified as to the extent of Serafin's injuries. Dr. McGinley is a radiologist specializing in sports medicine. He said he had trained at Stanford University and had treated members of the San Francisco 49ers football team and Giants baseball team.

"Knee injuries are common," McGinley testified, saying that he has seen "thousands" and probably reads a half-dozen MRIs per day. "But the collection of injuries shown in this patient's (Serafin's) case is unique."

He said she had completely ruptured both the medial collateral ligament on the inside of her knee and the anterior cruciate ligament that joins the femur (thighbone) to the tibia (large bone in the lower leg) and runs through the knee joint itself. In addition, he said that the meniscus on the inside of the knee and the meniscus root, which anchors it to the tibia were both injured.

"These are very extensive injuries," Dr. McGinley testified.

Under cross examination, he said he did not believe that having a throwing motion stopped abruptly could cause the type of injury he read on the MRI.

"It would take a great amount of force, from the outside and slightly to the front of the joint, to cause this much damage," he said.

McGinley said that the MRI was taken a week after the incident. Two days after being injured, Serafin visited her chiropractor and fellow martial arts student, Dr. Patrick Clinch, in Rapid City.

Dr. Clinch testified that he felt there was more damage than was shown on an x-ray taken immediately after the incident and he felt an MRI was warranted. He said he had performed chiropractic adjustments on Serafin in the past, including her knees.

Both Dr. Clinch and Doug Langworthy, who owns the martial arts dojo that Serafin attended in Rapid City, testified that training in a controlled setting is different than a real-life attack. Langworthy testified that Jarman had been at his dojo on "about a dozen occasions" and had been a guest instructor, on the art of grappling.

"I thought his skills were impressive," Langworthy said.

Rensch said after the trial that he felt the case came down to which of the two individuals the jury believed.

"I thought the credibility of the alleged victim was key," he said. "I think she spoke in ways that were entirely inconsistent with her claim that this was an aggravated assault."

He pointed out that on a medical document she filled out four days after the incident, Serafin had listed "knee pain from accident" as a reason for seeking treatment. "There is no way for anyone to contend

that such a thing was an accident, if what she was claiming was true."

"Mr. Jarman got on the stand," Rensch said, "told the good and the bad, bared his soul and told his case."