A federal jury in Valdosta has acquitted Clinch County Sheriff Winston Peterson of perjury and obstruction of justice charges related to an investigation of alleged corruption in the south Georgia county.

The jury returned its verdict Thursday morning after hearing two days of testimony in the case.

Prosecutors accused Peterson of tipping off then-Superior Court Judge Brooks E. Blitch III to the identity of an FBI informant. The sheriff also was accused of lying to a grand jury about conversations he’d had with Blitch about the federal investigation.

Blitch resigned from the bench days before he was to face a misconduct trial before the state Judicial Qualifications Commission. He is fighting federal corruption charges brought in July that allege, among other things, that he created unnecessary government jobs, allowed others to pocket money in exchange for access to him and ordered the collection of illegal fees in criminal cases.

Peterson has remained on the job as sheriff since a grand jury indicted him last year. He faces three opponents in the November election.

The government’s loss is the second for this investigation in a month. In late August, Timothy Eidson, the Cordele Judicial Circuit’s chief public defender, was acquitted of all charges against him.

In July, Linda Peterson, Winston Peterson’s sister-in-law and a former Clinch County magistrate judge, was acquitted of one charge and convicted of two others. Her defense team is seeking a post-judgment acquittal.

“They should stop it all,” said Brent Savage, Winston’s Peterson’s lawyer.

U.S. Attorney F. Maxwell Wood said he was disappointed, but “I wouldn’t do anything differently except get a different jury.”

—The Associated Press, with staff reporting