Former Navy SEAL Chris Heben spoke out in an interview on Friday and said he was relieved to have been acquitted of lying to police about being shot during an altercation with three black men, television station WEWS reported.
Heben, who is white, had been charged with misdemeanor counts of falsification and obstruction as part of an investigation by police in Bath Township, Ohio. He told authorities he was shot in the abdomen and had pursued the men in his truck after the March 2013 altercation.
Authorities said there were several inconsistencies that led them to believe he’d made the story up.
But Heben was acquitted on Wednesday when the jury returned its verdict, following a two-day trial, in about 45 minutes.
When asked by reporters on Friday about the fact that the Bath Police Department had essentially called him a liar, Heben stuck to his account that he had been attacked.
“I would hope that they would continue to try to find my assailants,” Heben said.
Heben said the ordeal had cost him financially. He said the accusations against him had cost him “seven figures,” which he said he wouldn’t be able to recover.
One of the jurors on Heben’s case told newsnet5.com in a story published Thursday there was “some doubt” about Heben’s testimony, but the juror said the former SEAL was ultimately acquitted because the prosecution hadn’t effectively proven its case.
“What bothered me was there was no gun, no blood, no bullets. Nobody heard anything and that kind of swayed me towards the state,” the anonymous juror told newsnet5.com. “There was some doubt. His attorney was very good.”
Heben responded Friday to questions about this juror’s comments with doubt as to their veracity.
“Well, I would say that a verdict that was eight in favor of not guilty and zero in favor of not (sic) guilty kind of disproves the very words that that juror spoke on record,” Heben said.
Watch the interview below, courtesy of television station WOIO:
Cost him “seven figures?” Didn’t know there could be more than 2 figures after the decimal point. Must be one of those currency exchange calculators that carry everything out to 8 digits.
There’ll probably be a GoFundMe account set up for him by the Blaze by the end of the day.
So the jury believes this moron rather than the police? The prosecution took lessons form the OJ trial?
Well, like OJ, this guy is going to meet up with karma one day.
Military Affairs Adviser to the Cruz campaign?
One more fine example of white privilege. Receiving the benefit of the doubt.