When his trial started, Donnie Srabian was accused of pointing a gun at the sheriff's deputy, and faced as much as nine years in prison.
Now, he won't spend a day behind bars.
A judge gave Srabian a six-month sentence Monday, but he also found there were unusual circumstances and stayed the sentence.
Srabian won't talk on camera, but he told me he didn't do anything wrong: he was just protecting his property.
Donnie Srabian is a free man. A jury found him not guilty of the two most serious charges against him, including assault on a peace officer.
But even though he's free, the jury didn't find him completely innocent.
"Mr. Srabian is not very happy about it because he told you his side of the story and his side of the story is he wasn't guilty of anything," said his defense attorney, Sal Sciandra.
Three years ago, Fresno County sheriff's Deputy Frank Harper responded to a 911 call from Srabian's property in the country near Fowler.
It turns out, nobody called 911, but a malfunctioning phone triggered the emergency response.
Harper says when he got there he saw something that looked like this: Srabian came out of the home wearing a ski mask and holding a gun.
The deputy shot Srabian. From Srabian's standpoint, the incident played out a lot differently. He says he thought a prowler was on his property.
When he went outside to confront the person, he never lifted the gun from his side. He just got shot.
But the legal question for the charge of brandishing a firearm is whether he held the gun in a rude or threatening manner at anybody other than a crook.
"He didn't know if it was a pizza delivery, kids on a scavenger hunt," said prosecutor Ron Wells. "He jumped up, ran out and stuck a gun in somebody's face and unfortunately was shot because he had a ski mask on."
Srabian never got closer than 15-20 feet away from the deputy and says he was blinded by a searchlight. The jury believed he may not have known he was holding his gun on a deputy.
But they found him guilty of brandishing a firearm, and as a result of his conviction, he won't be allowed to hold any gun for ten years.
"I myself am a lifetime member of the NRA, a big Second Amendment supporter," said Wells. "I think the bits and pieces the general public have may lead to the impression that you can't defend your own property and that's absolutely not the status of the law. I think the jury's verdict sends the message, 'We don't care who it was, you can act the way the defendant did.'"
Sciandra challenged Deputy Harper's credibility during the trial and he got a different message from the verdict.
"I think it send to law enforcement that you better be prepared to testify in a manner that convinces a jury." He intends to appeal the conviction.
Srabian has also filed a federal civil rights suit against the sheriff's department and Deputy Harper.
He has a court date in that case coming up next month.
