SPRINGFIELD - A Hampden Superior Court jury on Thursday acquitted Michael Deguise of Chicopee of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for stabbing a man in West Springfield.

Dale E. Bass, lawyer for the 26-year-old Deguise, told jurors in closing arguments his client stabbed Ahmed Kadhim in self-defense.

Deguise had testified Kadhim was beating him with a large flashlight and bat so the stabbing was in self-defense. Kadhim's lung was punctured and he spent five days hospitalized.

Deguise had also faced a charge of civil rights violation, but when the case went to the jury Judge John S. Ferrara told them that charge was no longer to be considered.

He said evidence at the trial about an incident in the parking lot of Pintu's restaurant at 12:30 a.m. - before the stabbing at another location - did not meet the requirements of the law.

The law requires the civil rights violation occur as a result of force or threat of force and there was no evidence of that at the Pintu's lot location, Ferrara said.

Kadhim and four other Muslim men testified at trial a man, later identified as Deguise, called them "f___ing terrorists" as they played Frisbee July 14, 2013, in Pintu's lot.

Kadhim, a 22-year-old civil engineering student at UMass Amherst, testified that he and a friend followed Deguise's car because he wanted to find out why he had said those things to the Muslim group.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew W. Green asked jurors in his closing argument who had the greatest motivation to shade the facts for his own benefit, and suggested it was Deguise.

He said Deguise denied saying any of the offensive comments to the group of men at Pintu's.

Green said Kadhim, who followed Deguise's car to an apartment parking lot, testified he only walked up to Deguise and asked him why he had said the comments and then he was stabbed.

As for Kadhim following Deguise, Green said, "I'm not saying it was the smartest thing he did. He almost paid for a bad choice with his life."

Bass, in his closing argument, said Kadhim followed Deguise because he wanted a confrontation, not just to talk to him or get his license plate number.

He said when Deguise left the apartment lot location he did not believe he had stabbed anyone, he thought he had just punched Kadhim.