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Last updated on Tuesday, February 24, 2015
(BLOOMINGTON) - Jurors on Friday acquitted a Jasper man of breaking into a west-side Bloomington home last year, threatening the occupants with a shotgun and then fleeing with a wallet and a jewelry box full of polished rocks.
At the conclusion of a four-day trial in Monroe Circuit Court, 12 jurors deliberated less than two hours before finding 32-year-old Gerald Curtis Bates not guilty of burglary, armed robbery and theft.
The jury found the state did not prove their case, thus acquitting Bates of all charges.
Bates was arrested after Bloomington police found his blood at a home invasion and armed robbery that happened in February. The couple say they were woke by the sound of someone in their living room. They claim Bates was armed with a shotgun and demanded cash and jewelry.
During a police interview, Bates said he was not in Bloomington at the time of the February robbery.
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