Central Texans are justified in wondering whether justice was served and there are any lessons to be learned in the wake of honky-tonk hero Billy Joe Shaver’s trial this past week for shooting someone in the face outside a bar near Lorena in 2007.

The answer is that key lessons exist for all as we note the jury’s not guilty verdict, delivered at the conclusion of a trial that saw Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Willie Nelson and Academy Award-winning actor Robert Duvall attend in support of the much-admired singer, songwriter, Christian and one-time hellraiser.

For those of you marveling at some of the conflicting testimonials offered in court about who said what to whom and who challenged whom to take it outside and whether Shaver actually said the now famous line, “Where do you want it?”, know this: Justice may be blind, but truth is the most elusive of sprites in Texas honky-tonks.

And here’s a lesson for Billy Coker and all those like him: When you start stirring your drink with your knife, that’s uncouth but entirely permissible in a honky-tonk. When you stir somebody else’s drink with your knife, watch out.

Especially if you then wipe your knife off on that someone else’s sleeve.

Another thing: Even if you’re armed with a knife, think twice about fighting someone in a honky-tonk or just outside. Yes, law forbids folks from carrying guns into bars (though, considering the rush by politicians to allow guns almost everywhere else, give it time).

If you’ve been stirring drinks with a knife in a saloon and you’re going outside to fight a 70-year-old man, one question should naturally present itself: Is this old dude I’m about to thrash packing heat?

Of course, in this instance, Shaver happened to be carrying a .22 caliber revolver and revealed he wasn’t afraid to use it.

Prosecutor Mark Parker deserves some praise for telling Trib courthouse reporter Tommy Witherspoon afterward that he didn’t think the celebrity factor in the trial ultimately colored the jury’s collective mind in favor of Shaver.

Some jury prospects even apologized to Shaver, a Waco resident, for not knowing who he was.

Even so, the celebrity factor did change the tenor of the trial. Nelson, ever considerate, spent time outside the 54th State District courtroom posing for photos and giving autographs. He even took ribbing about the time in 1994 he got busted just south of Waco after falling asleep in his Mercedes-Benz. Police found marijuana in the car.

Duvall was more reserved and less accommodating. The big rumor at one point was that Tommy Lee Jones was on his way, too, though he never showed. So much for a “Lonesome Dove” reunion in Waco.

Kris Kristofferson was also traveling to Waco to show his support, according to Shaver’s attorney, Dick DeGuerin, but got stuck in Hawaii. Which, all things considered, is a good place to get stuck.

At least seven employees of the district attorney’s office were at one point in the courtroom, despite the fact they had absolutely nothing to do with the case.

Prosecutor Beth Toben wins plaudits for taking a page or two from Billy Joe Shaver’s own playbook in her questioning of the defendant on the stand, pitting the songwriter’s very actions and claims against his autobiography, “Honky Tonk Hero.”

The only problem with this legal strategy is when the person you’re grilling knows the playbook far better than you do.

Even so, Shaver was mighty impressed. At one point he told Toben: “Boy, I wish I had a book on you.”

Shaver was obviously delighted with the verdict Friday and announced he would celebrate by “playing all night” at the Firehouse Saloon in Houston. But the 2007 shooting at Papa Joe’s Saloon and his trial for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon ought to suggest another lesson.

My wife, a veteran of the earliest Willie Nelson picnics, suggests Shaver would be wise to follow Nelson’s example of smoking weed in private among good friends instead of hanging around in volatile bars and honky-tonks with dubious, potentially combative sorts.

“Pot smokers just don’t do that,” she said. “He’d be mellow, just like Willie.”