1/21/2015 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEPHEN B. THORNTON A man loads something into a truck behind Arkansas Funeral Care at 2620 West Main Street in Jacksonville, Wednesday. ( STEPHEN B. THORNTON / Stephen B. Thornton

5:50 P.M. UPDATE:

A former funeral director at Arkansas Funeral Care in Jacksonville has been found not guilty of all eight counts of criminal abuse of corpses.

The jury returned its verdict about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday after just over an hour of deliberation that began around 4:35 p.m.

The number of charges Edward Snow, 64, of Cabot faced dropped from 13 to nine on Monday and from nine to eight on Tuesday afternoon.

Snow was accused of mistreating human remains, in part to satisfy his employer's demands to keep operating costs low, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.

Rotting corpses were found inside the now-defunct funeral home last year by state regulators, according to the newspaper.

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

— Brandon Riddle

5 P.M. UPDATE:

After closing arguments, the jury has begun deliberating in the trial of an Arkansas man accused of corpse abuse at a Jacksonville funeral home.

Ed Snow was the funeral director at Arkansas Funeral Care, where bodies were found rotting last year.

The jurors began deliberating about 4:35 p.m. Tuesday.

Check back with Arkansas Online for updates on this developing story and read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

EARLIER:

A former employee at a Jacksonville funeral home whose whistle-blowing of poor conditions led to criminal charges was called to testify Tuesday against his former boss, who is charged with criminal abuse of corpses.

The second day of funeral director Ed Snow's trial began with the prosecutors calling Mike Jones, who testified that he worked under Snow on a daily basis for four months before being fired in January 2015.

Jones, who said he worked in the industry for 42 years, testified that he was appalled by conditions at Arkansas Funeral Care and made frequent pleas with Snow and the business's owners to purchase more equipment to handle the overflow of bodies.

"It looked like something out of a B-rated horror movie in there," Jones said. "It's just not right."

Jones said he planned to quit Jan. 6 and began filming the business's conditions. Later that day, when a misplaced belt from a set of clothes to dress a body was discovered in a drawer, Jones said, Snow fired him.

Afterward, he took his complaints to the state Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers.

Pressed by Snow's lawyers on cross examination, Jones said he never filed complaints while employed by the business and that Snow had told him he would go to the business's owners to see about getting new equipment.

Those owners, Leroy and Rodney Wood, avoided jail in their own case by pleading guilty as a corporate entity, which was handed a $50,000 fine.

Before a lunch recess, prosectors also called two women who inspected the business as employees of the state board after Jones' complaints.

They said that Leroy Wood was a designated manager for Arkansas Funeral Care and that both he and Snow were present at times during inspections that found multiple bodies stored outside of coolers in various states of decay.

Check back with Arkansas Online for updates on this developing story and read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

— John Moritz