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The jury deliberating in John Falcone's trial for being drunk in a bar and four other charges stemming from alleged damages, acquitted the homeless fisherman Tuesday on three out of five charges.

The jury of four men and eight women did find the 40-year-old guilty of being drunk and disorderly at the Rendezvous on Feb. 8.

"I'm not sure about the consequences anymore, but other than that, I'm happy," Falcone said.

The state failed to convince the jury that Falcone caused hundreds of dollars in damages by throwing chairs, kicking a cop car and resisting arrest, even though two police officers and two witnesses testified he did.

At one point, Falcone faced up to nine years in prison as the District Attorney's office and police piled charges against him. Falcone said the charges increased only after he refused to plea bargain with the District Attorney's office.

"If I had said guilty, I would have a felony," Falcone said.

That night, police said they found Falcone pinned to the Rendezvous Bar's floor by the bartender and a patron. Falcone was drunk and had just busted up the place because he was asked to leave, according to police.

In a rare move by a defendant, Falcone took the witness stand. He was just standing in the bar when police cuffed him and stuffed him into a waiting police car, he said. Yes, he was drunk, but there was no altercation or commotion, he said.

"I was too drunk to leave," he said. "I can't get drunk in a bar? That's ridiculous."

Bartender Kurt Milnes testified that Falcone drank and bought drinks for four hours. He was tipping well, he said. Eventually Falcone became too drunk and was asked to leave, Milnes told the jury. Falcone started to leave but turned around at the door, cursed and started throwing bar stools, Milnes said.

"All he had to do was leave," Milnes said.

Falcone said he moved a single bar stool, but did not throw anything. Falcone only lost his temper after police arrested him and gave him a "running shove" into the squad car. He admitted to passive resistance while being arrested.

Passive resistance is not against the law.

"Obviously he lost control," bar patron Dennis Wharton claimed from the witness stand. "The first thing I saw was rage."

"I'm not like that," Falcone said. "I was drunk and being nice."

Wharton told the jury that one of the chairs Falcone allegedly threw bounced near him. He then helped Milnes subdue Falcone, pinning him to the floor, he said.

"I told him if he got up I'll break his neck," Wharton said.

Falcone told the jury he did in fact get drunk in the bar that day. That's why he went there, he said. The rage, the destruction and the resisting arrest did not happen, he said.

Juneau police officer Terry Allen told the jury he wrote three citations at the scene, but that none mentioned damage to the bar. The alleged damage served as the state's primary onus for the weighty felony charges once leveled against Falcone.

Allen arrested Falcone first on a charge of being drunk in a licensed bar, then on a charge of resisting arrest and then disorderly conduct. The charges of criminal mischief and damages came later.

"He has to be under arrest to resist arrest," Allen said.

In front of the jury, public defender Eric Hedland pushed the idea that Allen used the drunk in a bar law to push certain people into obeying his orders.

"You get more citizen complaints than any officer in Juneau, don't you," he asked.

The question went unanswered after Hedland withdrew it under opposition. Later while on the record, without a jury present, Hedland said Allen had several complaints and had at least one lawsuit filed against him.

Hedland told the jury his client might seem a little paranoid to them, but that it didn't mean people weren't out to get him.

Falcone spent four months in jail between February and June at a cost of more than $15,000 to the state.

As charges bumped into the felony range for damages, Falcone's bail went from $500 to $1,000. By the time a judge lowered his bail to zero, and Falcone got out to pursue his defense, he'd lost his job washing dishes at the Baranof Hotel, his apartment and all his belongings.

In court this week, Assistant District Attorney David Brower changed his mind and reduced the one felony charge upon learning he could not prove the cost of damages claimed in the indictment in court.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg then acquitted Falcone on a charge he did more than $50 damage to a police car while being arrested after Brower failed to present evidence of a dollar value.

Even with the outcome of a bench acquittal and felony charges being slashed, Brower said he did not consider the state's case a waste of time or state resources.

Lead Juneau public defender David Seid said he couldn't begin to estimate the cost of defense in one case or another.

Charges are often reduced to lesser alternatives, Brower said.