By JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press

NEW YORK - A suspended New York City judge has been acquitted of disguising the source of $250,000 in campaign cash that revived her struggling bid for the bench.

A Manhattan jury delivered its verdict April 1 in Manhattan Surrogate's Court judge Hon. Nora Anderson's criminal trial.

She won her 2008 race but was suspended before being sworn in.

Anderson was accused of cloaking a backer's gifts and loans as her own money to evade campaign-contribution limits. The gift restrictions don't apply to candidates' own money.

Defense lawyers said the money was truly Anderson's because the contributor had given and loaned it to her personally. Defense attorneys also said campaign workers were in charge of deciding how to report the money.

She would have faced up to four years in prison if convicted.