Print edition: 
WICHITA — A jury found today that a man was not committing a crime when Wichita police shot him more than a half-dozen times at a south Wichita nightclub in 2008.
The verdict, which came after about 40 minutes of deliberations, acquitted James Ware on a charge of criminal threat.
Ware, a career Air Force man who now is in the Army Reserve, was shot at least seven times the night of Aug. 3, 2008, after the owner of Max's Club on South Rock Road asked for help in calming a fracas in the parking lot involving more than 100 people.
In the trial that started last week, Ware testified that several gang members involved in the commotion had threatened to settle the arguments with guns. Ware went to retrieve an assault rifle from his vehicle to help protect others in the parking lot.
Six Wichita police officers arrived at the parking lot and testified that they came up behind Ware. Three of the six fired 16 shots, including those that hit Ware.
Kurt Kerns, Ware's attorney, said the acquittal was important to Ware not only to clear his name, but because the military could have ordered him to return disability payments he received to help with his medical expenses.
"It could have been a devastating career-ender," Kerns said.
Kerns played the jury a video taken at the scene from a bystander's cell phone showing that the assault rifle never left the vehicle before Ware's shooting.
