Jurors in western Wisconsin acquitted a Minneapolis man of murder but convicted him of a lesser felony in the killing of an international student from Saudi Arabia outside a bar.

Cullen M. Osburn, 28, heard the verdicts in his trial Tuesday in Dunn County District Court: not guilty of murder and guilty of battery causing bodily harm in the October 2016 assault of University of Wisconsin-Stout student Hussain Saeed Alnahdi, 24, outside Toppers Pizza in Menomonie. Osburn awaits sentencing on July 13.

According to the complaint and witnesses, Alnahdi and his roommates had gone out to Menomonie bars early on Oct. 30, 2016, and he ended up outside a pizzeria, where a stranger, later identified as Osburn, punched him in the face. Alnahdi fell head-first into the side of the building. A friend said he tried to separate the two, but Osburn pushed him away, and when he looked back Alnahdi was falling to the ground. The friend responded with a few punches at Osburn, then rushed to help Alnahdi. He was flown to an Eau Claire hospital and died the next day.

Osburn's attorney said his client was acting in self-defense, saying Alnahdi and a second person were the aggressors.

Alnahdi was a junior majoring in business administration. Within days of the killing, the Consulate of Saudi Arabia appointed a lawyer and dispatched its head of legal affairs to monitor the case.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482