CARACAS, Venezuela -- A judge has thrown out charges
against former Florida Marlins pitcher Ugueth Urbina, who was
arrested for allegedly firing gunshots into the air in an upscale
Caracas neighborhood.
Urbina's lawyer, Andres Peinado, told El Universal
newspaper on Sunday that Judge Ludmila Pinto ruled that Urbina fired
his gun in self-defense when a man on a motorcycle tried to rob him.
Police arrested Urbina early Friday morning for firing a gun out
the passenger window of a sport utility vehicle.
Urbina finished last season as the closer for the World Series
champion Marlins, but is now a free agent.
Police said Urbina and a friend, Cesar Diaz, were intoxicated
when they were detained. Police seized a 9-mm revolver
from the pair, and charged them with possession of a weapon without
a license and misuse of a firearm.