PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A 51-year-old homeless man who was acquitted last year of manslaughter in the death of a friend in Portland has been sentenced to 1½ years in prison for threatening two people involved with the trial.

WGME says Larry Sauve was sentenced Friday in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Sauve was acquitted of killing Peter Vukelich in 2006. Sauve had been accused of bludgeoning his friend on the head with a backpack filled with unopened beer bottles while the two were drinking near railroad tracks. He was later convicted in the threatening case.

Sauve’s lawyer said his client was having a mental episode when he made the threats and was not in a normal state of mind.