Note: This story was last updated at 5:50 p.m.

CLINTON—Anderson County Public Works Director David Crowley has been found not guilty on charges that he conducted building inspections without proper certifications.

A seven-man, five-woman jury found Crowley not guilty on all five counts after deliberating for about one hour and 45 minutes Thursday.

Crowley had been accused of violating the state’s building official certification law.

With the acquittals on Thursday, he can seek to have the charges expunged from his record, Anderson County Criminal and Circuit Court Judge Don Elledge said.

A few key questions raised in the trial had been whether five building inspections conducted by Crowley between October and December 2013, when he was not certified by the state, were within a 12-month grace period and whether they posed a danger to life, safety, health, and welfare. The question of when the grace period started depended upon whether Crowley’s interim hiring in September 2012 should be considered the starting point, or whether it should be his permanent appointment in November 2012 or his first inspection in February 2013.

The trial started Wednesday morning in Anderson County Criminal and Circuit Court, and it ended Thursday afternoon. [Read more…]