PORTLAND – A 50-year-old homeless man has been acquitted of manslaughter in the death of a friend a year and a half ago in Portland.

The Cumberland County Superior Court jury returned its verdict Tuesday in the trial of Larry Sauve.

Sauve was accused of killing Peter Vukelich on Oct. 3, 2006, by bludgeoning him on the head with a backpack filled with unopened beer bottles while the two were drinking near railroad tracks behind St. John Street.

A judge ruled last summer that Sauve was mentally incompetent to stand trial. But the judge recently decided that Sauve was capable of assisting with his own defense.