James Cory Hicks has been acquitted of criminal charges by a Texas appeals court.

Hicks was convicted by a Cass County jury in 2004 of injury to a disabled person by omission in connection with the beating and dumping of Billy Ray Johnson, a mentally disabled black man.

In 2007, Hicks and three other men were found liable for more than $9 million in damages by a Cass County jury in a civil lawsuit.

Look for further details in Saturday’s Texarkana Gazette.