A Lake Villa, Ill. Republican state senator arrested this summer on trespass and criminal damage to property charges following an altercation with her neighbors was acquitted Wednesday.
State Sen. Suzi Schmidt was cleared of wrongdoing in the incident after Lake County Judge George Strickland ruled that there was not enough evidence in the case for a conviction -- but he left in place an order of protection blocking Schmidt from contacting the neighbors in question, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Schmidt, 61, was arrested on June 12 after her neighbors said she caused damage to their animal feed bag. According to the Daily Herald, she was allegedly walked onto her neighbors' property, ripped open the bag of feed and threw some oars into a nearby swamp.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Schmidt believed her now-estranged husband was having an affair with the female neighbor and, according to the neighbors, she harassed them with a series of calls, texts and e-mails dating back to late 2010.
Schmidt told the Associated Press Wednesday that she "had no doubt" about the judge's ruling and was "very sad" the dispute had ended up in court.
Schmidt said last November that she would not seek reelection after a series of bizarre altercations with her husband previously prompted police to intervene. In the most damning incident, Schmidt identified herself as an elected official to police and then urged them to ignore 911 calls from her husband, who had reported a series of incidents of domestic violence.
WATCH a previous report on Schmidt's June arrest: