PROVIDENCE — Jonathan Oster, the former Lincoln town administrator who apparently killed himself after being convicted of four counts of bribery and conspiracy last month, is legally not guilty.

The indictment that led to Oster’s conviction was dismissed last Tuesday after his lawyers filed a motion that was upheld by Associate Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia, who presided over Oster’s month-long trial. Lawyers for the state and Oster agreed to the dismissal.

The action was expected. After Oster’s death on Feb. 22, officials at the attorney general’s office said it would be the next step in the case, because under Rhode Island criminal procedures, if a defendant dies before his case can be appealed, the charges can be dismissed.

Oster’s lawyer for the trial, C. Leonard O’Brien, was out of town and could not be reached for comment.

A Superior Court jury found Oster guilty of two counts of bribery and two counts of conspiracy in connection with actions during his 2000-2002 term as town administrator. The state charged that Oster, along with then-Planning Board member and political ally Robert R. Picerno, conspired to solicit bribes from two potential buyers of a piece of town-controlled land on Route 116 in Lincoln.

Oster had faced a maximum of 20 years in prison on each bribery count and 10 years on each conspiracy count.

The morning after the Feb. 21 verdict, Oster went to his Old Louisquisset Pike law office. His body was found later that morning in the office’s conference room. Chief State Medical Examiner Thomas P. Gibson ruled the cause of death was a shotgun wound to the head.

“There was no evidence of foul play,” Gibson said.

jhill@projo.com