UPDATE - WEDNESDAY - 6:06 p.m.

The jury has reached a verdict and Jeffery Earl Morton has been found not guilty of all charges in the Applebee's stabbing.

The full acquittal means Morton faces no more charges and is free to go.

Based on the verdict, the jury must have believed Morton acted in self-defense when he was confronted by brothers Charles and Matthew Cole at the Applebee's bar. A fight ensued and there were differing accounts as to who started the physical altercation. Morton slashed Charles Cole with a box cutter in a move that led to the aggravated assault charge against him.

In testimony Wednesday, Morton took the stand in his own defense and said he had undergone significant plastic surgery to his face from a lumber accident and did not want to risk getting hit for fear of what might happen.

Charles Cole also took the stand and showed jurors the scar that still remains on his upper arm.

For a complete report, read Friday's Southern Standard. The story from the first day of testimony Tuesday is as follows:

There was a restaurant full of witnesses, yet no two testimonies were the same Tuesday as the trial began for the man accused of stabbing another man at Applebee’s last October.
The defendant, Jeffery Earl Morton, 51, faces felony assault charges and some misdemeanor counts for allegedly slashing the face and arm of Charles Cole, 27, with a box cutter during an altercation the men had inside Applebee’s on a night those there agree was a packed house. The victim claims he was standing up for a friend, while Morton says he was acting in self-defense when the much bigger man and his brother came at him.
The altercation reportedly started when Ashley Bellow, a friend of the victim Charles Cole and his brother, Matthew Cole, said she felt Morton touching her hair and then running his hand along her back.
“I just wanted to be left alone,” Bellow testified, saying she had twice told him to keep his hands to himself. “A strange man is touching me in a bar.”
Erica Ross, a friend of Bellow, was sitting on the other side of her and said she saw Morton, whom neither knew, touching her friend’s hair.
Defense attorney Bud Sharp suggested Morton accidentally touched Bellow’s hair because the bar was crowded and he accidentally brushed up against her long hair. Bellow and Ross disagreed, noting there was a space between Bellow and Morton, meaning an accidental touch was not realistic.
As to who threw the first punch in the fight depends on which witness was testifying.
James McCallie, a former bouncer, said he helped pull Morton out the door after the fight in which he recalled Morton throwing what he thought was a weak punch which later turned out to be him swinging and striking the victim with a box cutter.
Norma Sturkey, who was sitting on the other side of the bar, maintained Charles Cole, the victim, threw the first punch.
Sturkey noted the Cole group had been loud before the altercation, talking loudly at the bar. It was also pointed out the Cole brothers were much bigger than Morton, the defendant standing 5-foot-7 and weighing 165 pounds, while the victim was estimated as being much taller and weighing 250 pounds.
Applebee’s employee Taylor Douglas believed Morton threw the first punch and recalled someone yelling “he has a knife.” She also recalled a family with children sitting nearby all dove for cover under a table when the fight broke out. “There was blood everywhere,” she said.
In the end, there was no agreement as to who threw the first punch or who was the primary aggressor as some witnesses said Morton backed away as if not wanting any trouble while others said he cursed back at the Coles and came at them.
There was also disagreement as to whether one brother was holding the other back from the fight and there were allegations the victim had loudly cursed Morton from his bar stool at the far end of the bar before making his way to where Morton had been sitting.
Other testimony said he had simply walked down from the end of the bar to see about the disturbance. The only thing agreed to was Cole suffered a deep gash to his lip and arm which the defense concedes was caused by Morton slashing Cole, but in self-defense. The box cutter used in the cutting has not been found.
With the assortment of different views of the incident, prosecutors are hopeful the victim’s testimony will help their case when he takes the stand when the trial resumes this morning. For the defense, Sharp said his client will take the stand before the trial concludes this afternoon.