Jury Acquits Man of Deliberate Homicide in Vet’s 1996 Death

FORT BENTON, Mont. (AP) — A South Dakota man has been acquitted of killing his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend in central Montana nearly two decades ago.

The Great Falls Tribune reports jurors deliberated for nearly eight hours Wednesday before finding Thomas Jaraczeski not guilty of deliberate homicide in the 1996 shooting death of Geraldine veterinarian Bryan Rein.

The state argued that Jaraczeski stalked his former girlfriend when she began dating Rein.

The defense argued that another man could have been responsible for the killing and questioning Rein's time of death, suggesting it might have occurred during a time that Jaraczeski had an alibi.

Jaraczeski was charged in 1998, but the case was dropped when a judge ruled evidence obtained through the use of a bloodhound could not be used. He was arrested in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in April 2014.

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