By Bruce Schreiner
The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE - A man who stood trial once in the 1999 death of a Bullitt County teenager avoided a second trial Friday when a Bullitt County judge dismissed his murder charge at the request of a prosecutor.

David "Bucky" Brooks spent 25 months in jail awaiting his first trial, which ended in a mistrial in January. He was to stand trial a second time in the beating and strangling of 17-year-old Jessica Dishon.

Prosecutor Michael Mann said he met with Dishon's parents this week to inform them he was inclined to seek the dismissal.

Dishon's parents, Mike and Edna Dishon, weren't in the courtroom in Shepherdsville on Friday when Bullitt County Circuit Judge Thomas Waller dismissed the charges, which included kidnapping and tampering with physical evidence.

"I don't think that the evidence was sufficient at this point to get a conviction," Mann, the Bullitt County commonwealth's attorney, said in an interview after the hearing.

Brooks, 44, could have faced the death penalty if convicted of murder. He said he wasn't expecting the dismissal when he entered the hearing, which was supposed to be a review of evidence that could be admitted in his upcoming trial.

"I love it," Brooks said in an interview later. "I feel sorry for the Dishon family, but I love it."

Brooks said he was a "scapegoat" for police investigators who "didn't want to do their job and look for nobody."

Waller dismissed all the charges without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could refile them if more evidence is obtained.