VANCOUVER, WA (KPTV) -
A Vancouver couple who police accused of locking up two autistic children in a caged room were found not guilty of unlawful imprisonment Tuesday.
John Eckhart and Alayna Higdon embraced in the Clark County courtroom once the verdict was read.
Prosecutors said Eckhart and Higdon kept the two boys caged with nothing but a dirty mattress. They said the boys had no lights in the room and no way of getting out for hours at a time.
But a defense attorney said the room was designed after research by Eckhart, with the intent of protecting the kids because of their tendencies to hurt themselves.
Eckhart and Higdon were arrested in April 2011.
The two boys have been in foster care while their biological mother seeks custody rights.
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