A Florida jury has found O.J. Simpson not guilty of battery and auto burglary charges, saving the notorious criminal defendant a potential sixteen years in prison.

The former football running back, who was acquitted in another criminal trial six years ago—for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman — closed his eyes and bowed his head, mouthing 'thank you' to the jury, after the foreman read each count of not guilty.

The multi-ethnic, six-person jury, consisting of two blacks, two Hispanics, one Asian, and one white, took less than two hours to reject the prosecution's contention that an enraged Simpson reached into neighbor Jeffrey Pattinson's car and grabbed his glasses off his face during a traffic dispute last December.

There were no witnesses to the Dec. 4, 2000, altercation, in which Pattinson, the neighbor, alleged that Simpson had angrily confronted him at a Florida intersection, grabbed his eyeglasses, leaving a scratch on his temple. Authorities say Simpson ran a stop sign — with his two children, Sydney and Justin, in the car — then pulled over in anger when Pattinson honked at him.

Simpson faced a maximum of 16 years in jail if convicted of both charges. Most observers did not expect Simpson to receive much jail time, if any, if convicted. He rejected a plea deal before the trial that would have spared him from serving time but required him to attend anger management classes.

The trial boiled down to a 'he said, she said' affair, with Pattinson's word held up against Simpson's. Pattinson was the prosecution's star witness, testifying that Simpson acted like a "madman." He said that Simpson ran a stop sign, almost caused an accident, and then got out of his car and assaulted him when honked at.

"The guy got behind me and he started beeping his horn and he sat on his horn," Simpson responded during his turn on the stand. "It was just one constant blare of the horn. "I got out of my car. I said, 'You can't do this. I got a couple kids in this car. You can't do it.' At that he blew up. He puffed up like a bull frog and went off."

Little evidence was presented to corroborate either story, other than a thumb print of the defendant's on the other man's glasses. Neither the prosecution nor the defense opted to call Simpson's two children, Sydney and Justin, a point that clearly made an impression on the jury.

"Is it legal for the state or the defense to call the minors in Mr Simpson's vehicle at the time of the incident to the stand?" the panel asked in a written note to Judge Murphy. After consulting with attorneys for both sides, the judge merely answered "Yes."

Fifteen minutes later the jurors announced that they had reached a verdict.

The jury's decision clearly pleased defense attorney Yale Galanter, whose contentious relationship with prosecutor Abbe Rifkin reached a head on the last day of the trial.

Trying to attack Simpson's credibility, Rifkin alleged during her closing argument that Simpson had changed his story after talking to lawyers and then continued to refine his story afterwards.

"He met with his lawyer. Now its important that the victim's out of his car. Because now it's a burglary. The story changes. The victim's out of the car. The victim doesn't have his eyeglasses on," she says.

Galanter viewed this as an allegation that he had committed perjury by intentionally putting a lying client on the stand.

"There is no evidence that it was an evolving story, there is no evidence of a contradiction, and there was certainly no evidence that anybody from my office aided in this evolving story," he told the jury. "And I am offended because that is not the way to convict somebody and brand them a criminal."

After the verdict, Galanter took a reconcilatory tone. "I have the utmost respect for (the prosecutors) and I can tell you that I thought (Rifkin's) closing arguments were superb," he said.

Simpson did not make any statements to the media after verdict.

The ex-NFL star acquired a dubious notoriety after standing trial for the murders of his ex-wife, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Simpson was acquitted of the crimes, but lost a civil suit brought by the victims' families.