On the bench , Battisti earned a reputation as a jurist who was willing to take on the most controversial cases . Some of his rulings generated heated debate , including his acquittal of eight former Ohio National Guardsmen implicated in the shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University on May 4 , 1970 . As his obituary in '' The New York Times '' stated , " The Kent State case came to an abrupt halt when Judge Battisti dismissed it on the ground that Government prosecutors had failed to prove ' beyond a reasonable doubt ' that guardsmen had willfully intended to deprive the students of their rights "
shooting deaths of four students
Kent State shootings
Frank J. Battisti