Man Acquitted In 1988 Fatal Shooting Over Drug Debt

PAW PAW, Mich. (AP) - A man who was a witness for prosecutors and had immunity for his testimony about a 1988 southwestern Michigan slaying has been acquitted of murder in the case.

A jury this week returned the verdict in the case of Guy Carl Simpson in Van Buren County Circuit Court. He was charged last year in the slaying of 22-year-old Charles Paul Miller of Bangor.

Authorities say Simpson was one of three men who lured Miller into a marijuana field in Allegan County's Lee Township, shot him in the back of the head because of a drug debt and buried his body. Arrests first were made in the case in 2000.

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports another defendant, Junior Fred Blackston, is awaiting sentencing Feb. 22 after a plea agreement.

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