Cloquet Man Acquitted Of Murder Conspiracy

CLOQUET, Minn. (AP) - A man accused of conspiring with his ex-wife to kill her current husband has been found not guilty on all counts against him by a jury in Carlton County.

Prosecutors alleged John Edwin Bemis III planned with his former wife, Marie Margaret Majerle, to fatally shooting her estranged husband, Richard Majerle, in January 2013. He survived the gunshot wounds that his wife admitted inflicting.

A jury late Friday found Bemis innocent of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, aiding and abetting attempted first-degree murder and aiding and abetting first-degree assault.

Defense attorney Joseph Tamburino said Saturday testimony from Bemis himself, who has never been in trouble with the law, led to an acquittal.

Tamburino says prosecutors never even tested the gun for DNA that was used to shoot Majerle.