SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Dale Moroni Gibbons, former Zions Bancorporation executive, was acquitted on Thursday of methamphetamine possession and dealing in material harmful to a minor for allegedly exposing his daughter to pornography.
Both were third-degree felonies, punishable by up to five years in prison.
The jury deliberated three hours after closing arguments. The trial lasted three days.
Prosecutors claimed Gibbons called attention to his drug and "raving" lifestyle by holding parties that prompted 13 complaint calls by neighbors. He called police himself when his girlfriend and daughter were semiconscious after taking drugs, attorneys said.
Gibbons, 42, took the stand Wednesday, saying the methamphetamine was his girlfriend's and there is no evidence his daughter ever saw the pornography.
Prosecutor Katherine Bernards-Goodman said so much pornography was around the house that Gibbons' 15 year old couldn't have avoided seeing it. Bernards-Goodman placed stacks of video tapes and magazines in front of the jury, urging them to look through it.
"We're not talking about Playboy here. This is sadomasochistic stuff. There are chains and abuse and urination ... magazines designed to make women look underage," she said. "This is the worst kind of porn there is."
Defense attorney Clayton Simms also urged the jury to look through the porn, but said the amount of material did not indicate Gibbons' daughter ever saw it.
Simms said Gibbons' fingerprints weren't on the drugs or any of the "rave" paraphernalia and that a video of the house taken by police showed no pornography in any room other than the bedroom. Defense attorneys also said Gibbons was out of town in the days before the arrest, and that someone else brought the methamphetamine into his home.
Police began investigating Gibbons in October 2000 after complaints of loud parties at his Holladay home.
When police responded to a 911 call from Gibbons, sheriff's deputies saw several boxes of sexually explicit items, including a video titled "Pregnant Bizarre," depicting a naked pregnant woman covered in blood.
Police returned 10 days later with a search warrant, arresting Gibbons for having methamphetamine in his nightstand drawer and adult magazines in the 15-year-old's bedroom.
The week before the trial, Gibbons filed a defamation lawsuit against 21 people arising from his arrest and prosecution.
Gibbons resigned from his $2.1 million a year position as Zions' chief financial officer shortly after his arrest. The lawsuit blames the resignation on the "media frenzy created by defendants' statements to the press."
Gibbons says he lost $5.35 million in stock options, benefits and other incentives when he left Zions. The suit also asks for at least $500,000 in legal fees, $100,000 for the devaluation of his home and punitive damages to be determined at trial. The lawsuit cites 51 separate defamation claims, each for separate statements made against Gibbons by police and prosecutors.
