A jury acquitted former correctional officer Montrez Lucas of battery recently, and a Bradford County courtroom erupted in tears, back slaps and bear hugs from corrections officers who had rallied to his side during a tense, weeklong trial.
Lucas' fiancee gasped and began weeping, as did his mother, who sat in the front row. Lucas cried, too, as he hugged his former co-workers at Florida State Prison, where felony criminal charges against him and four other officers in the beating death of inmate Frank Valdes have taken an emotional toll.
Other officers, all in civilian clothes, clustered around Lucas, hugging him cheek to cheek and smacking him hard across his broad back.
'It's over, man,' Lucas, 31, whispered to well-wishers who lined his path to the courtroom door. Then the onetime corrections sergeant and his large family of siblings, cousins and others quickly left the courthouse. Lucas of Lake City uttered only four more words, 'Glory be to God,' then drove away by himself in a tan Ford Taurus.
His case and a related second-degree murder case against the four other officers has reverberated throughout the Florida Department of Corrections, which employs 27,000 people and operates 128 facilities, including 57 prisons.  Evidence found in both prosecutions has led to several reforms designed to prevent abuses against inmates.
Ten miles from the courthouse, at Florida State Prison, officials were taking steps to prevent any inmate rebellions that might arise as word of the verdict spread.  'Everyone's on their toes,' said corrections spokesman C.J. Drake.
Charged with aggravated battery for allegedly slapping and punching a handcuffed Valdes on July 16, 1999, Lucas' defense was that a racist and resentful fellow officer had tried to frame him.
That officer, Charles Griffis, was the state's star witness.
'It would not be the first time that racial animosity became a motive that led to an injustice,' said Lucas' lawyer Johnny Kearns as he made his closing argument to the jury.
Griffis had testified Thursday that he saw Lucas enter Valdes' cell and strike him several times. He also told jurors he has been branded by the prison community as a 'snitch' since deciding last year to cooperate with investigators.
Lucas, who is black, had faced the possibility of prison time in the system that employed him for nine years before he was fired in February. The maximum sentence for aggravated battery is 15 years, but Lucas' otherwise clean personal history ensured a far lighter sentence, perhaps no prison time at all.
Lucas also faced two lesser charges: malicious battery on an inmate and coercing someone to alter a report. The jury of three men and three women -- two of them with slight connections to the prison system -- found Lucas not guilty of all three charges after deliberating two hours.
The four other officers who are charged with beating Valdes to death the following day, July 17, 1999, are expected to stand trial as early as February.