A McClusky man accused of zapping his 6-year-old son with a cattle prod was acquitted of that charge and several others in a jury trial last week.

Virgil Scott Laib also was charged with threatening to use the cattle prod on his son a couple other times, grabbing his wife by the throat on Valentine's Day and pushing her out of the house and threatening to tie her to a fence post and throw her into a water hole. The incidents were alleged to have occurred from February to June in Sheridan County.

Laib was acquitted by a Sheridan County jury of all of the charges but one. He was found guilty of terrorizing for throwing his wife out into the snow wearing only a nightie, Sheridan County State's Attorney Walter Lipp said.

The abuse was reported by Laib's wife in June after she moved out with their three children, Lipp said. Only one of the children was mentioned in the criminal charges.

The terrorizing charge is a class C felony punishable by five years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.

Laib will be sentenced in six to eight weeks after a presentence investigation.

The jury returned with a verdict Wednesday after a two-day trial.

(Reach reporter Mike Albrecht at 250-8261 or cops@ndonline.com.)