LAPTOP-BATTERY UPDATE: No, not the lithium-ion kind. Professor Cleared of Battery Charges For Closing Laptop Lid On Student’s Hand. “A jury voted “not guilty” in the trial of an assistant professor who had been charged with battery of a student by allegedly closing a laptop lid on her hands. Frank J. Rybicki, an assistant professor of mass media at Valdosta State University, in Georgia, had been suspended while the trial was under way, but he will be teaching now that he has been cleared, according to university staff and a supporters’ page on Facebook.”