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A Richmond-area immigrant who wrote a blood-covered letter promising to behead a U.S. consul in Vietnam was acquitted today of charges of threatening a federal official.

At the conclusion of the one-day trial, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne said the government had not proven its case against Phuong Nguyen Le beyond a reasonable doubt. Le, 50, who has spent the past year in custody, was to be released this afternoon.

In a letter written in November 2008 to the Richmond office of U.S. Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-3rd, Le threatened to cut off the head of U.S. Consular Section Chief Charles Bennett in Ho Chi Minh City. He later made the same threat to FBI agents, according to testimony.

Le was upset because Bennett, who Le said was a liar, would not grant his wife a visa, suggesting the marriage may have been a fraud in violation of immigration law. Testimony indicated he was drunk when he wrote the letter.

Experts on mental health and Vietnamese culture testified for both sides. They said Vietnamese use expressions such as threatening to cut off a hand for or foot, or even a head, with no intention of actually doing so, and that they may “sign” letters with blood in an effort to convey sincerity.

“Your letter-writing days had better be over,” Payne told Le. He added, “It is the court’s hope you go get some treatment. If I could order it, I would.”