BELFAST – A jury on Tuesday found a middle school math teacher not guilty of sexually touching a female student.

Raymond Danielson, 51, of Belmont raised his shoulders when the Waldo County Superior Court jury foreman read the panel’s verdict after a one-day trial.

The seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated less than a half-hour before reaching its verdict.

“We’re happy with the outcome,” defense attorney Eric Morse said following the verdict. “I think Mr. Danielson is relieved to put this behind him.”

Danielson, an eighth-grade teacher at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, had been arrested Feb. 18 and charged with two counts of illegal sexual touching and two counts of assault following an investigation by the Belfast Police Department.

At first, Danielson was placed on administrative leave without pay. After a judge modified bail conditions, he went back on the SAD 34 payroll April 4, but did not work at the school.

The 14-year-old girl told police of touching incidents that allegedly took place in Danielson’s classroom and in the school’s cafeteria last fall.

Justice Nancy Mills told the jury that the crime of unlawful sexual touching can take place on areas covered by clothing when it involves a teacher or person with authority over someone under the age of 18. Offensive physical contact is considered assault, she said.

The girl testified Tuesday that on both occasions Danielson put his arm around her, rested his palm on her stomach and his thumb against the bottom of her breast.

“I thought that he shouldn’t be doing that because he doesn’t have the right to,” the girl told the jury. “I felt uncomfortable.”

A 14-year-old friend of the girl testified that she saw Danielson put his arm around her friend during an award ceremony in the cafeteria. “I thought it was weird when I saw it … just that his arm was around her because no other teacher does that.”

Danielson testified that he may have given students a handshake, a high-five or a pat on the back during his more than 23 years as a teacher.

He stressed, however, that “I never inappropriately touched any student, male or female.”

The girl and her mother reported the incidents to middle school Principal Kimberly Buckheit on Oct. 20. The school conducted its own investigation and decided nothing inappropriate took place. When the girl’s mother contacted police in January, a criminal investigation began.

Once Danielson was charged, several teachers at the school wrote a letter to local newspapers, criticizing the arrest and police investigation.

By that time the alleged victim had withdrawn from school. She was being home-schooled the remainder of the year.

“I felt like I was being driven out of the school,” the girl testified Tuesday.

Defense attorney Morse argued that both alleged incidents occurred in places where other people were around. Witnesses testified that there were as many as 18 students at a time in Danielson’s math class, and that a handful of teachers and more than 70 pupils were at the awards ceremony.

He suggested that the girl may have exaggerated her allegations and was unable to manage the situation.

“These teachers would jump up and down if they saw something,” Morse said. “This thing took on a life of its own. She didn’t have control.”

Deputy District Attorney Leane Zania asked members of the jury to take the girl’s age into consideration and ask themselves why she would fabricate such a story. She said the girl had no motive to exaggerate or lie.

“Was she mistaken? This was not an innocent brush or shaking of the hand,” Zania said.

When asked for comment after the verdict, Zania said, “These are always very difficult cases for all parties involved, especially when a young child is involved.”