Judge RenÈ Foisy has found Haakon Arntzen, the former Yukon Party MLA for Copperbelt, not guilty of indecent assault.

The decision was reached in Northwest Territories Supreme Court on Tuesday following the conclusion of a two-day trial in Hay River. The charge dated back to around 1973 in Fort Smith, N.W.T.

After all the relevant evidence was presented, Foisy accepted 'without reservation' Arntzen's original plea, Brian Beresh, the ex-MLA's lawyer, said this morning from Edmonton, where he's based.

'It did not come as a surprise,' he noted, adding he believed his client's innocence from the first time they met.

Beresh would not go into extensive detail about what evidence came forward during the trial.

The verdict comes just a little more than a month before Arntzen is set to go to trial on another charge of indecent assault, in Yukon Supreme Court.

The new trial was ordered after Arntzen successfully won his appeal on the guilty verdict for the same case in 2005.

Arntzen resigned his seat after having been convicted.

At Arntzen's request, the trial by jury is set to be held in Dawson City, June 11-15.

Beresh said he's hopeful the verdict from the N.W.T. case will see Crown prosecutors reconsider proceeding with the June trial.

That said, the lawyer stressed he's ready for the case to go ahead.

'We're prepared to proceed full-steam ahead,' Beresh said.

Indecent assault is not part of the current Criminal Code. It would currently fall under a charge of sexual assault.

Crown prosecutor John Phelps said this morning that while he will look at the N.W.T. case, they are separate incidents.

'The bottom line is it will be factored in,' he said of moving forward on next month's trial.

He still has to speak to Crown prosecutors and others involved in this week's case before deciding whether it will have any impact on next month's trial.

Phelps noted the Yukon case deals more with a technical issue and that there originally was a conviction in the matter.