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At least four times during his closing statement, Jason Daskalos' defense attorney called the police officer at the center of Daskalos' DWI arrest a liar.

Apparently, jurors didn't believe the officer either.

The six-member jury found Daskalos not guilty on DWI and reckless driving charges about 7:30 p.m. Friday, an hour after the prominent developer's two-day trial erupted in a crescendo of vitriol and acrimony.

There was nearly a mistrial. Defense attorney Bob Gorence told Albuquerque police Officer Josh Otzenberger to "shut up." Prosecutors asked the court to preserve the tapes of defense testimony for an investigation into possible perjury charges. And then Gorence made his closing statement, calling Otzenberger's testimony "a joke."

One thing, at least, seemed certain: someone was lying.

Otzenberger had testified Thursday that he was riding his police motorcycle to work just before 10 p.m. Aug. 25 when he saw a Porsche speeding recklessly down Vista del Norte Northeast. Otzenberger said he saw the car run a stop sign, then trailed it to a house, where Daskalos got out of the car and entered the home, the officer said.

Daskalos, 35, testified Friday that he did "roll" through a stop sign in the Vista del Norte neighborhood, but saw Otzenberger standing in front of a house he later learned belonged to the officer. Daskalos said he continued to a friend's house for a Friday night poker party, drank a vodka and cranberry juice and had started on a second drink when his car alarm went off.

The host of the poker party, Jason Gross, also testified that Daskalos was at the house for 15 to 20 minutes before the alarm went off.

Otzenberger had testified that he opened the parked Porsche's door in order to set off the car alarm and draw the driver from the home just seconds after he saw Daskalos enter the house. But a Porsche technician testified Friday that simply opening the Porsche's unlocked door wouldn't have set off the alarm. He said someone would have to reach into the car to set it off.

A different Porsche technician had said the same thing during a February hearing.

Gorence used the discrepancy to call into question the entirety of Otzenberger's testimony.

"I would suggest that when people lie - and I use that word deliberately," Gorence told the jury, "you use that as a benchmark to evaluate everything else they say."

Otzenberger's testimony that Daskalos couldn't have been inside the house for more than 15 or 20 seconds was the linchpin of the state's case, since it gave credence to the claim that Daskalos must have been drunk when Otzenberger said he saw him speeding.

The officer who ultimately arrested Daskalos, Gerald Shelden, testified Friday that Daskalos blew 0.09 on two breath-alcohol tests and failed field sobriety tests. But Shelden also gave key ammunition to the defense.

"If he consumed one drop of alcohol while inside the house," Gorence asked, "those breath results would be absolutely meaningless?"

"That's correct," Shelden said, prompting a grimace from prosecutor Allison Michael.

Daskalos and Gross testified that Otzenberger unleashed a torrent of obscenities when they rushed out of the house to check on the car alarm.

"It was `F-this' and `F-that.' `You F-ing rich kids,' " Gross said. "You could tell he was in a real, real bad mood."

Otzenberger denied using profanities during the investigation.

Criminal cases often come down to differing versions of a key event. But even Gorence's mother, who attends many of his trials, couldn't remember one where nearly every detail was a matter of contention.

So perhaps it wasn't such a surprise when things boiled over. The meltdown began near the end of Friday's testimony. After calling Otzenberger back to the stand, Michael was asking questions apparently meant to undermine the defense's contention that Otzenberger was out to get Daskalos because Daskalos had money and a new Porsche.

Otzenberger testified that he didn't even know how much money Daskalos had until after Daskalos had been freed from the department's DWI van, known as the BAT mobile.

During a pre-trial hearing, Metro Court Judge Kevin Fitzwater had barred either side from bringing up the BAT mobile incident, over which an off-duty APD officer and friend of Daskalos, Ben Kirby, was fired.

After sending the jury from the courtroom, Fitzwater said Otzenberger's testimony was ground for a mistrial and said it was up to Gorence to decide. After a brief conference with Daskalos, Gorence returned to the courtroom, smiling, and said, "We're going to do it all again."

Neither the judge nor jury had yet returned to the room.

"That's fine," Otzenberger said with apparent sarcasm as he rose from his chair along a courtroom wall and walked toward the defense attorney. "I've got nothing better to do."

He then asked if Gorence was serious and the two men, whose acid-toned sparring had taken up much of the trial's first day, exchanged words.

"Shut up," Gorence said abruptly. "I don't want to deal with you."

He then accused Otzenberger of pulling him over to harass him over questioning at an earlier hearing.

"You signed a ticket admitting guilt," Otzenberger said.

"That's because I didn't want to be out there for an hour," Gorence said. "I have no respect for you. I'll put my credibility ahead of yours any time."

In the end, the defense opted against a mistrial. Fitzwater told the jury to disregard Otzenberger's statement about the BAT mobile, calling it improper.

The least abrasive member of the courtroom panoply may have been Daskalos himself. He spoke quietly during his testimony and later said he was nervous.

Accompanied by his family, he left Metro Court into the Friday twilight with a smile and a shake of his head.

"We always said we wanted our day in court and we got it," he said.

Michael, who'd argued in her closing statement that Gorence was trying to "muddy the waters" and that Daskalos was the one concocting the story, said she'd done her best to present the case.

"But we couldn't convince the jury," she said.