District Court Judge Joy Hamilton found Don Beason guilty of misdemeanor assault this afternoon.

He was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and ordered to relinquish his Taurus .357 revolver to Raleigh police. He has already voluntarily turned in his concealed gun permit.

His sentence was continued to next October. In the meantime, Beason will be on unsupervised probation. If he does not commit any further crimes, the sentence will be continued indefinitely.

Hamilton found Beason not guilty of a separate misdemeanor charge of assault by pointing a gun.

His attorney said he would not appeal the case. 

There was an interesting role reversal in today's Don Beason trial.

Prosecutors asked Judge Joy Hamilton to bar cameras from WRAL's news team from the courtroom, reports Ryan Teague Beckwith. Defense attorneys wanted them to stay.

It's usually the other way around.

An assistant Wake district attorney said two witnesses did not want to appear on TV news, though they did not mind being in the newspaper.

Beason's attorney, former state Rep. Bob Hensley, made an impassioned speech defending freedom of the press. He cited the state constitution and said there was no good reason to close the court in the misdemeanor assault case.

"This is not a juvenile case, this is not a sexual abuse case, and this certainly is not a national security case," he argued.

Beason, a former top lobbyist, is facing a misdemeanor assault charge for allegedly pointing a gun at a Raleigh couple at a gas station near Cameron Village in July.

Judge Hamilton said the cameras could stay, saying Hensley's speech might win fans in the press corps.

"They might be reporting on what you said rather than this case after all that," she said.