Indiana jury acquits man in World War II veteran’s murder

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) – A southern Indiana man has been acquitted of murder charges in the 2006 beating death of an 81-year-old World War II veteran.

A Monroe County jury deliberated more than eight hours Friday before finding 34-year-old Andrew Cooper not guilty of murder or of felony murder in Sid Cowden’s October 2006 killing.

But The Herald-Times reports the Bloomington man still faces charges of burglary and robbery resulting in injury because jurors couldn’t agree on whether he’s guilty of those charges.

Cooper testified that he never met Cowden and didn’t kill him. But he couldn’t explain how his DNA got on two cigarette butts found at Cowden’s Ellettsville home, or how the print from his left ring finger got on the inside of the driver’s side window of Cowden’s pickup truck.