An assault charge against the chairman of the Roanoke City Democratic Committee was dismissed Friday afternoon.

Substitute General District Court Judge Frank Greenwalt of Martinsville said the prosecution did not present sufficient evidence to proceed with the case and upheld a defense motion to dismiss the charge after almost two hours of testimony.

The charge was filed by Mark Powell, who managed Martin Jeffrey's Democratic primary campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates seat now held by Onzlee Ware.

Powell accused Tony Reed of verbally and physically intimidating him April 10 during arguments over access to documents Ware was required to file to be a candidate on the primary ballot. Greenwalt was called to hear the case after Roanoke's circuit court judges stepped aside because witnesses in the case included three of Roanoke's constitutional officers, including Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell.

During testimony Friday, Caldwell, Commissioner of the Revenue Sherman Holland and Treasurer Evelyn Powers said Powell and Reed engaged in heated arguments, but said nothing rose to the level of being physically threatening.

Witnesses agreed that Powell and Jeffrey had confrontations with Reed twice on April 10, which was the filing deadline for candidates to appear on the June ballot.

Powell and Jeffrey arrived at the Roanoke voter registrar's office just before 5 p.m. on that Friday prepared to begin what Powell acknowledged was a political strategy to try to keep Ware's name off the ballot by attempting to prove his voter petitions were invalid.

He and Jeffrey insisted party rules required Reed to grant them immediate access to Ware's petitions.

Witnesses described heated arguments among Reed, Powell, Jeffrey and Caldwell after Reed said he did not have Ware's petitions and would not produce them before the next Tuesday.

Later that night, however, Reed called Jeffrey and offered to let him see the petitions at the Books-a-Million store on Hershberger Road.

Reed, Powell and Jeffrey again argued over access to the records in a confrontation witnessed by Holland, who testified that while there were disagreements, he did not believe Reed's behavior was threatening.

Reed's lawyer, Ray Ferris, noting that Powell called the news media with accounts of the confrontations before going to a magistrate the next day to file the assault complaint, accused him of orchestrating the confrontation as a publicity stunt.

Powell and Jeffrey denied that.

Jill Deegan, an assistant commonwealth's attorney from Botetourt County, presented the prosecution's case based on Powell's complaint.

Ferris called no witnesses before asking Greenwalt to dismiss the charge.

Jeffrey lost the primary election to Ware in June.

Ware is being challenged by Republican Troy Bird in the November general election.