Man acquitted after sitting 2+ years in jail

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A homeless Missouri man who sat in jail for nearly three years because he couldn't raise bail was acquitted in an assault case.

A Jasper County jury deliberated for little more than an hour Tuesday before acquitting Curtis J. Downton. He was released from custody.

Downton spent two years and eight months in jail because he was unable to post a bond that had been reduced to $3,500 three months after he was arrested in March 2006.

Downton had been accused of attacking a friend after a night of drinking and drug use. The men gave substantially different accounts of what happened the night the attack occurred.