A jury Friday found Linda Gipson not guilty today.

The jurors deliberated for about 90 minutes before returning the verdict in Island County District Court this afternoon.

They found that Gipson, the chief nursing officer at Whidbey General Hospital, is innocent of fourth-degree assault.

The case was unusual for the District Court in the high-profile nature of the defendant and complexity of the case, which involved numerous witnesses, including experts in the medical field.

Gipson, 63, was accused of assault for grabbing a mental-health patient by the chin while the woman was in four-point restraints in May 2014.

Gipson took the stand Wednesday and testified that she was following her years of training in responding to an attention-seeking, troublesome mental health patient by redirecting her attention.

Gipson and several defense witnesses testified that it’s a common technique in dealing with unruly patients.

Nurses who witnesses the incident, however, testified that Gipson acted inappropriately out of anger and that her actions were unnecessary toward calming the patient.

A full story on the trial and its outcome will appear in the April 15 edition of the Whidbey News-Times and South Whidbey Record.