Florida town jury finds farmer not guilty in boy's ATV death

PHOTOGRAPHER: Edward Munger Jr.

A town court jury returned a not guilty verdict in the case of a town of Florida man charged in the death of a child in an ATV accident on his property.

After testimony Monday and Tuesday, the jury deliberated for roughly 45 minutes before finding David H. Kietzmann innocent, according to Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney John N. Clo, who declined to comment on the case this morning.

Kietzmann, 53, faced two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child, punishable with up to a year in jail.

Police alleged Kietzmann was criminally responsible for the Sept. 20, 2008, death of Josiah Mazurkiewicz, 8, who was a third-grader at the Division Street School in Saratoga Springs at the time of the accident.

Mazurkiewicz was taking turns riding the 500cc four-wheeler with the 10-year-old daughter of his babysitter when the ATV overturned on Kietzmann’s farm off Thayer Road. He was pronounced dead at St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam.