Several felony gun charges against a Penn Township man were tossed by Butler County Court Judge William Shaffer on Wednesday.

Shawn E. McDonell, 37, was accused of possessing five firearms, including two AK-47-style rifles and several handguns after previously pleading guilty to a felony charge in Virginia.

McDonell was charged with five counts of felony possession of a firearm prohibited, but after several hours of testimony, and moments before the jury would have been instructed to deliberate, McDonell was acquitted of the charges.

Judge Shaffer determined that the previous conviction in Virginia did not meet the felony aggravated assault statute in Pennsylvania, to which Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz had argued was comparable, and therefore McDonell was allowed to possess the firearms in the state.