A Clarion County man, who was found not guilty of charges alleging he threatened to burn an apartment building and used racial slurs, wants a judge to acquit him of the remaining summary public drunkenness charge he was convicted of.

At a trial in August this year, a jury found Baron John Beichner, 53, of Knox, not guilty of a felony charge of ethnic intimidation and a misdemeanor charge of terroristic threats filed in March 2024 by Butler police, but Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Joseph Kubit found him guilty of public drunkenness.

Through his attorney, public defender Kolten Hilterman, Beichner filed a post sentence motion seeking the acquittal.

At a hearing held Thursday on the motion, which Beichner did not attend, Hilterman argued no one testified about seeing Beichner drinking.

The police officer who testified said he immediately noticed the odor of alcohol when he approached Beichner on the steps of a home across the street from the apartment building and noted his eyes appeared glassy and his speech was slurred, Hilterman said.

He said a woman who lives in the apartment building testified, but did not say he was intoxicated.

No tests were conducted to determine if Beichner was intoxicated and the testimony does not meet the statutory definition of public drunkenness, Hilterman said.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Lope said the combined testimony is enough to support the conviction.

Lope claimed, through experience and training, an officer is able to determine if someone is intoxicated and Beichner testified that he consumed beer before the alleged incident. He further argued Beichner was in a public place when the officer determined he was intoxicated.

“Annoyance” is included in the public drunkenness statute and Beichner created an annoyance by using a racial slur toward the woman, who also testified he threatened to burn the building, Lope said.

Kubit said he will issue a ruling on the motion.

Beichner is being held in the Clarion County Prison on an unrelated court matter.