File under: It's complicated. The visiting boyfriend of a local woman landed in jail on battery charges following a confused incident of drunken jealousy at a Folsom Street nightclub. It seems the man, 38-year-old Francisco Arnaiz Martin of Spain, went out on September 28 for drinks with his 33-year-old girlfriend in SoMa. The girlfriend lives here, and the two met in March in Madrid when she was there on a study abroad program, and Arnaiz Martin had come to stay with her for a couple of weeks.

Things got a little dicey, however, when the couple began dancing with a drag queen at the nightclub. Arnaiz Martin reportedly became upset and stormed out of the club after the drag queen kissed his girlfriend. (Welcome to San Francisco!) Then things got uglier outside when the girlfriend fell to the ground and scraped her knees. By closing time, an angry crowd had gathered on the sidewalk around the couple, and began punching Arnaiz Martin and spraying him with pepper spray.

According to a release from the Public Defender's Office, the couple was sent home by police after being treated for their injuries, only to begin fighting again at the girlfriend's apartment. Arnaiz Martin left at 4 a.m. after police were called there, only to return at 8 a.m. to retrieve his clothes, at which point the girlfriend wouldn't answer the door so he kicked it down.

The whole incident ended up going to trial, with the girlfriend pressing charges for battery. However prosecutors were not able to present any witnesses who would testify to seeing Arnaiz Martin push her to the ground. The defense argued that "he moved his girlfriend’s arms away from him [in trying to walk away, and] because
she was intoxicated and in high heels, she fell onto the sidewalk."

The jury deliberated less than a half hour Tuesday before acquitting Arnaiz Martin. Public Defender Jeff Adachi says in a statement, “Fortunately, the jurors came to the right decision and Mr. Arnaiz Martin can finally go home and put this nightmare behind him." The Spaniard had been in jail nearly seven weeks following his arrival in San Francisco, and charges of vandalism relating to the busted-down door were dropped after his family arranged with the Spanish Consulate to wire the money to the landlord to pay for the door.