A Meadville man has been acquitted of all but one charge stemming from a shooting last July at Theodore’s Bar in downtown Meadville.

In Crawford County Court of Common Pleas on Wednesday, the jury deliberated less than two hours before returning its verdict of guilty of simple assault against Melvin Cummings, 45, of 721 Park Ave.

Cummings was found innocent of the more serious charges of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, carrying a firearm without a license, and discharging a firearm in an occupied structure.

The jury was given the case at 2:50 p.m. and reached its verdict at 4:33.

Testimony during the trial was that the victim, Philip McClendon, and his cousin, Christopher Burnett, were sitting at a table in the rear of the local bar. They testified they saw Cummings and another man apparently ready to fight, so they decided to leave.

It was as he was trying to pass Cummings that McClendon got shoved and then shot in his left hand, according to testimony entered by the two cousins during questioning at the trial. Cummings fled the bar and wasn’t arrested until two months later when he was found in Bradford.

However, a defense witness, Andre Cummings, a nephew of the defendant, testified Wednesday that he was also at the bar that night and saw his uncle coming from the back of the bar with another man and “out of nowhere” McClendon started walking toward his uncle and “took a swing at him.”

He said McClendon slipped, and when he got up, he started to punch his uncle again. He said the two then tousled on the floor, he saw the spark of a firearm go off and “I hid behind the door.” After his uncle left the bar, the younger Cummings said he then went outside to check on him.

Under cross-examination by Crawford County District Attorney Francis Schultz, Andre Cummings agreed he hadn’t come forward until the day the trial started to tell anybody what he saw. He agreed he knew police were looking for his uncle and knew that his uncle was arrested two months later.

Under redirect questioning by defense attorney Ross Prather, Andre Cummings said he was “scared of the police,” noting they “give me mean looks for nothing.”

Also testifying on behalf of the defense was disc jockey John Catalano, who was working inside the bar that night, who told of hearing the sound of the gunshot and later seeing Cummings run behind the bagel shop across the street from Theodore’s.

He said he never saw Cummings in the parking lot next to the Chinese restaurant, where McClendon and Burnett had testified Cummings was seen by them.

In closing arguments, Prather compared the evidence with pieces of a puzzle and said some didn’t fit, referring to contradictory testimony.

He asked jurors to consider the consistency of statements, the interest of the witnesses, corroboration and credibility in deciding whose testimony to believe.

“A person who tells the truth doesn’t have to change his story,” he said, referring to some of the inconsistencies. In addition, he questioned how McClendon could have known the gun was a .22-caliber, reminding the jury that the first thing the victim told police was “he shot me with a .22.”