Following four days of testimonies and arguments, England and Chelsea centerback John Terry was found not guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, putting end to a saga that has been carrying on since the initial incident last October.
Terry was facing a maximum punishment of a £2,500 fine (along with the stigma of being found guilty of racial abuse), but instead walks away a free man after not enough evidence was presented to show that Terry purposefully abused the Queens Park Rangers defender. The court sided with Terry, who asserted that while he did use the language that Ferdinand was accusing him of using, he did so in response to Ferdinand asking whether Terry had called him the insult in question.
"It is therefore possible that what (Terry) said was not intended as an insult, but rather as a challenge to what he believed had been said to him. In those circumstances, there being a doubt, the only verdict the court can record is one of not guilty," Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle wrote in his court statement.
What do you think of this development? Think this trial was a waste of time? Surprised with the outcome?
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