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HAMILTON — A 60-year-old Middletown man has been found not guilty of murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend at his home on Helton Drive.

The following a 2 1/2-day trial, the a jury returned the verdict late Thursday night, acquitting Charles Frost of all charges nearly nine hours after they began deliberations.

Frost was charged with murder, attempted murder, domestic violence and tampering with evidence for shooting Deborah Dockery, 47, twice in the face on the night of May 11.

Members of Dockery's family, including her four sisters and mother, were in consolable as they ran from the court room. In the hallway they shrieked and cursed the legal system.

Shirley Dockery, who lives with her family in Western Kentucky, said "if you want to get away with murder, come to Ohio."

She said Frost always said he was going to get away with it (killing Deborah) and he did.

"If he comes after me it won't be that easy for him," Shirley Dockery said.

As the family left, one of the sisters shouted, "God will get him in the end."

When not guilty was read on each charge by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Oney, tears of happiness began to run down the face of Frost's son, Andy, who sat behind his father during the entire trial.

Defense attorney Paris Ellis also wiped away tears, but Frost was calm, showing just a small smile and turning to hug his son.

"We get to take him home tonight," Andy Frost said through tears. "He said he never wants to step foot in that house again. He just wants to go back to work."

Ellis said simply, "the system works."

Andy Frost looked up and said," "Paris Ellis, he's the man."

Assistant Prosecutor David Kash said obviously he is disappointed with the verdict.

"I believe the words out of his (Frost's) mouth were self-serving to support a the self-defense," Kash said, adding he believed there was enough evidence to prove murder or voluntary manslaughter, a lesser included offense that was offered as an option to the jury.

Frost, a truck driver, called 911 about 11:15 p.m. on that night in May and told Middletown police dispatchers he had shot Dockery because she was "going to cut my guts out."

During questioning by detectives, Frost maintained they had argued over alleged infidelities throughout the evening and had consumed beer. Dockery was outside, entered the residence, grabbed a knife out of the drawer and came at him, he said.

"She said, 'I'll cut your (expletive) head off,'" Frost told detectives Tim Riggs and Mark Specht during the taped interrogation. "I thought I missed her the first time. I shot again because she was still coming at me. The first time I shot, she never even flinched."

Dockery continued to come at him with the knife, Frost said, and he fired again.

The prosecution pointed to the gunshot wounds, one of which was made from just two feet away and the fact that the knife was found in Dockery's left hand and she was right-handed.

Assistant Prosecutor David Kash said if Frost had time to retrieve a 38-caliber revolver from another room, he had time to get out of the house.

"That's not self-defense," Kash said.

The prosecution maintained Frost delivered the fatal shot at point-blank range as she stumbled from the kitchen through the living room. Then, prosecutors said, Frost planted a knife in her hand and attempted to clean up a blood pool on the floor before calling police.

Ellis said the shooting was a classic case of self-defense, noting his client consistently told the same story and called 911 himself.

Ellis said Dockery was violent, having previously stabbed Frost with a fork and hit him with a beer bottle.

"She pulls out a knife and comes at him and he shot her twice," Ellis said. "He did what he thought he needed to do."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.