ELLSWORTH — Justice William R. Anderson recently found a Penobscot man not guilty of sexually assaulting his two stepdaughters.

The state had charged Michael D. Weber, 35, with seven counts of gross sexual assault and seven counts of unlawful sexual contact.

Weber was accused of abusing the girls over a three-year period between 2001 and 2004 when he was married to their mother.

Weber’s trial began in Hancock County Superior Court last week.

Defense attorney Steven Juskewitch argued that the girls’ accusations were brought in an attempt to keep Weber from gaining custody of a daughter he had with his ex-wife.

“Absent the stories” told by the stepdaughters, Juskewitch said, the girl “would be with her natural father.”

“Once you found out that she was better off with her father — that was upsetting?” Juskewitch asked the girl, who nodded yes.

Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett was the prosecutor.

On July 1, Juskewitch questioned why his client was even tried.

“There were prior court decisions on the civil side that said the allegations were not credible and Mary went with the indictment anyway,” Juskewitch said. “These allegations didn’t even meet the ‘more likely than not’ standards and the state went ahead with the same evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The American received several letters and a petition signed by 88 residents of Penobscot, Castine, Orland, Blue Hill and Bucksport declaring Weber’s innocence and testifying to his character before the trial began.

One writer stated that the accusations have “delivered a devastating blow” to Weber, his current wife and daughter as well as the Penobscot community.

Juskewitch said during the case that Weber and his young daughter had to go for three months without seeing each other or speaking on the phone.

The state had imposed bail conditions forbidding Weber to have contact with any person under the age of 16, including Weber’s own daughter, Juskewitch said.

The defense attorney said he tried twice to get the conditions amended to exclude the daughter but the request was denied twice, the first time without a hearing.