Jermaine King has been found &uot;not guilty&uot; of rape first degree.

King, 30, was charged with the rape of an acquaintance in an Oct. 21, 2002, incident. The trial began Monday.

The verdict came down late Tuesday afternoon in Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Jack Meigs’ courtroom after 20 minutes of deliberation.

Faile said he had feelings of both excitement and apprehension when he heard the jury was ready after only 20 minutes of deliberation. Faile said the verdict brought happiness and relief to his client.

During closing arguments, Faile said there needed to be a complete investigation of the crime scene. Faile also said a knife mentioned in testimony should have been available to jurors as should have the evidence of knife marks on the walls of the scene.

In his closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Joseph Fitzpatrick said the jury needed to use common sense in their deliberations. He referred to the victim’s testimony on the stand.

Fitzpatrick also said defense lawyers wanted juries to believe television crime shows were reality. On television all the evidence is presented in a nice package within 30 minutes, Fitzpatrick said; that isn’t always true in Alabama.

The burden of proof wasn’t 100 percent, Fitzpatrick said; it was beyond a reasonable doubt.