SALT LAKE CITY - Dale M. Gibbons, the former chief financial officer at Zions Bancorp, has been acquitted of the drug possession and child endangerment charges that forced him to quit his job last summer.
Mr. Gibbons resigned from Zions after police searched his home on June 12, 2001, and found 0.9 grams of methamphetamine as well as pornographic magazines and movies. His 15-year-old daughter also was found with symptoms of a drug overdose.
The 42-year-old executive, who had insisted from the start that he was not guilty, covered his face with his hands and cried after the jury, made up of seven women and one man, announced its verdict Thursday, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Mr. Gibbons had testified during the trial that the drugs belonged to his 19-year-old girlfriend, according to the newspaper. Police searched his home after he called 911 to report that his daughter was ill.
Last week Mr. Gibbons' lawyers filed a $6 million defamation suit against police and prosecutors in the case, the newspaper said.
