Leeds man acquitted in fake-tombstone case

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – A Maine man who works at the Port of New Hampshire in Portsmouth has been cleared of threatening and harassing the harbor master in a case involving a fake tombstone.

Christopher Garrity, 32, was accused of writing the initials of Harbor Master Bill Roach on a fake tombstone, with the letters “R.I.P.”

Portsmouth District Court Judge Swako Gardner acquitted Garrity, of Leeds, Maine, Thursday, a week after a trial. Gardner wrote that prosecutors failed to prove that the inscription was done to terrorize and cause extreme fear.

Prosecutors argued the charges were warranted because of animosity toward Roach on the part of port employees after he testified against Port Director Geno Marconi for using racial slurs in 2006.