WISCASSET – After less than one hour of deliberating Tuesday, a Lincoln County Superior Court jury found a former SAD 40 coach innocent of all charges that he committed unlawful sexual contact and assaults against two 13-year-old girls.

Ashley J. Hunt II, 40, of Rockland was found not guilty of two felony counts of unlawful sexual contact and eight misdemeanor counts of assault, which involved two students at A.D. Gray Middle School in Waldoboro. The two girls, who were age 13 at the time, were managers of basketball teams there. The offenses were alleged to have occurred between November 1999 and February 2000. SAD 40 comprises Waldoboro, Warren, Friendship, Union and Washington.

Shortly after each of the 10 verdicts was read, a teary-eyed Hunt embraced his family, who had sat through most of the 11/2-day trial. Hunt declined to comment before leaving the courthouse.

“I hope that the court of public opinion can swing back in his favor,” defense attorney Rick Morse of Rockland said following the jury’s verdicts.

In defending his client, Morse posed a theory that the two alleged victims and three of their friends had for some unknown reason conjured up the story of abuse. One of the friends was a girl who initially accused Hunt of an offense, but no charges were ever brought. The other two companions were boys who testified in court that they had seen Hunt pull one of the girls onto his lap and put her in a headlock. One boy told jurors that, on a daily basis, the coach would tell one of the girls that she was pretty.

Morse said that the false accusations had gotten out of hand and “snowballed” on the youngsters.

The defense attorney also questioned one victim and her mother about what they had to gain from their testimony, pointing to a notice of claim that had been filed against SAD 40 and some of its school officials. The claim seeks $400,000 in damages. The parents filed the notice of claim in August against SAD 40, Superintendent William Doughty, school Principal Barry Belyea, school athletic director Chris Moody and Hunt.

The couple also filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission, claiming the victim was denied the opportunity to participate in all educational, counseling and vocational guidance programs, and all apprenticeships and on-the-job training programs because of sexual discrimination. As of last week, the complaint was still pending and no lawsuit had been filed.

What the prosecutor could not use in the courtroom to try to contradict Morse’s conspiracy theory was that Hunt is also facing two charges in Knox County. On May 18, Hunt was apprehended for alleged sexual contact with a 15-year-old female student at Georges Valley High School in Thomaston. SAD 50 comprises Thomaston, St. George and Cushing. He was arrested the next day on the SAD 40 charges.

In Knox County, Hunt is charged with one count of unlawful sexual contact and one count of assault. Both charges are misdemeanors. Motions in that case are expected to be heard Thursday in Rockland District Court.

In a pretrial ruling, the judge denied a motion by the prosecution to allow the information regarding Hunt’s Knox County charges to be brought out during his Lincoln County trial, Assistant District Attorney Patricia Mador said Tuesday.

During the second day of the trial Tuesday, jurors heard from several witnesses and the defendant. Justice S. Kirk Studstrup presided over the trial.

Several parishioners who attend the same church as Hunt testified that he has a reputation for being honest, trustworthy and truthful.

When Hunt took the witness stand, he said that sports were a “tremendous passion” of his and that he had coached teams of all ages, from first-graders to high school seniors.

In recalling the day of his arrest on the SAD 40 charges, Hunt said his mother called him on the telephone to tell him that two police officers were at their home with a warrant for his arrest.

“I had no idea what the reason was,” Hunt said. “I was shocked.”

Hunt said he contacted his brother-in-law to have him relay a message to the police that he would be at his lawyer’s office. At that time, James Brannan of Rockland was representing Hunt.

Following Hunt’s testimony, Mador recalled Lincoln County Sheriff’s Detective Michael Murphy to the stand.

Murphy said that when he and another officer went to the house where Hunt and his mother lived, they did not tell her that they were there to arrest him.

During closing arguments, Morse said that if you tell a story more than once, it’s hard to keep it straight, “because it’s made up.” He argued that it simply did not make sense that Hunt would have put his hand down the pants of the girls or touched their breasts while the boys were practicing basketball or training, without someone noticing.

The defense attorney brought up testimony from Monday, during which one of the girl’s male friends “snickered.” Morse said his client’s situation was not a laughing matter.

“He was stripped of his job, stripped of his reputation, stripped of everything he loves,” Morse said.

“It was an inseparable group,” he said, referring to the three girls and two boys, who he claimed had conjured up the story.

In final arguments, Mador used former President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky as an analogy to the victims.

Mador described to jurors the famous snapshot of Clinton hugging Lewinsky outside the White House, which appeared innocent. However, the public later learned of their clandestine relationship, she said.

“Sometimes the best way to hide something is to hide it in public,” Mador said.

“We wouldn’t know anything is going on until we hear the other side of the story,” she said.

If the girls concocted the story, it would make more sense to get their facts straight, Mador said.

Although the girls could not accurately recall dates, she said, it did not mean that the offenses did not occur.