Show WILLIAM JOHNSON FOUND NOT GUILTY jury acquits defendant from arom charge of fA stealing sheep A verdict of not guilty was pronounced nouli bounced ced by the jury thursday afternoon in the case of the state versus william johnson under thee the charge harge of grand larceny for stealing seven head of sheep front from abe hansen the case was tried in the district court judge H N ha ea presiding for two days and it took the jury seyen seven hours to reach a verdict district attorney sam L page and attorney E E hoffmann conducted the case tor for the state attorneys dean bean and hunt ot of richfield and samuel L king lof of salt lake city appeared tor for the defendant the evidence of the elie state was that abe hansen found his sheep with earmarks changed and wool brand altered from two red bars to a black box in johnsons herd he claimed that defendant had cl el lipped off the red bars and placed the black on top of it the defense was that johnson had sought bought the seven sheep from willard anderson and instructed instruct el his hired man mail to get them and brand them and that the hired man picked up a brand which was near the corral and resembled hansens brand dipped it in red paint which was nearby also and put it on the sheep when johnson saw what nhat spencer the hired man had done he gave him orders to clip off the wrong red brand and put tale black box over it which pencer test testified that lie he did regarding the earmarks defendant admitted that he changed them to make them alike to the marks it he e used in the herd after receiving the judges instructions the jury commenced deliberations shortly before 10 thursday morning and returned with the verdict not guilty at in tho h 0 afternoon |