MCGRAW, CHESNEY ACQUITTED

Singer Tim McGraw was found innocent Wednesday of charges he assaulted an Erie County sheriff's deputy during a scuffle over a police horse, at a music festival in Orchard Park, NY, last year.

The jury also found fellow singer Kenny Chesney and McGraw’s road manager Mark Russo innocent for their roles in the incident. As we tirelessly reported in June, August and again in September, McGraw and Chesney were arrested June 3 after police tried to pull Chesney from a police horse he was riding backstage at the George Strait Country Music Festival. McGraw was accused of attacking deputies, while Russo was accused of joining in.

The jury took two hours to reach its verdicts. McGraw and Chesney hugged each other as the verdict was read. Spectators who packed the courtroom applauded, while we at HITS celebrated by throwing our cowboy hats in the air and screaming "Yeeee-ha!"

"We've been waiting 11 months to have our day in court," McGraw said outside of court. "The justice system works. We have nothing against the people of Buffalo. We'll be back. Hey, let me say that again, but this time like Arnold Schwarzenegger."

In closing arguments earlier Wednesday, defense attorney Thomas "E-I-E-I" Eoannou called the trial a "joke," and accused Sheriff Patrick Gallivan of putting aside the county’s business to "assassinate Tim McGraw" and protect his own reputation.

Prosecutor Louis Haremski said McGraw's fame and egotism gave him a false sense of empowerment, leading him to interfere with the deputies trying to pull Chesney off the horse.

Haremski also noted that McGraw’s star power has led to a startling rise in Urban Cowboy Syndrome at HITS, where the staff has been hanging on every word of this case from the beginning. However, the judge dismissed the accusation, deeming the HITS staff "completely irrelevant to everything."