PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Two former CVS executives were acquitted Friday of bribing a Rhode Island state senator for legislative favors, dealing a blow to the federal government’s probe into corruption in the Statehouse.

A jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before finding John R. Kramer and Carlos Ortiz not guilty of 23 counts of bribery, mail fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors had accused the former vice presidents at the Woonsocket-based pharmacy chain of paying former state Sen. John Celona to influence legislation on the company’s behalf by giving him a sham $1,000-a-month consulting contract.

Kramer held hands with his lawyers as the verdict was read, while family and supporters sitting in several rows in U.S. District Court cried with relief or smiled. He clapped his hands as he strode out of the courthouse, calling the prosecution unjust and unfair and saying it had taken a “terrible toll” on his life.

“I don’t think the government ever realizes how much they put an individual through,” he said.

Ortiz also said he was relieved.

“I knew all along that I was innocent,” he said.

U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente said the jury’s finding would not stop the ongoing probe into influence peddling in the legislature.

“If anyone thinks we’re going away, they’re wrong,” he said. “We thought the evidence justified a conviction. The jury didn’t. That’s the way the system works.”

Kramer’s lawyer, Scott Corrigan, said the swiftness of the verdict was a clear rebuke of Celona’s credibility. Celona contradicted himself repeatedly throughout his four days on the stand, offering testimony that differed profoundly from previous statements he had given under oath.

“I’ve seen this happen before when a dirty witness gets beat up and it actually looks like even the government is walking away from the person,” said David Zlotnick, a former federal prosecutor in Washington and an associate dean at Roger Williams University law school.

Celona, who was paid $45,000 over the next three years from CVS’s political contributions account, testified as part of a plea agreement that gave him a shorter two-and-a-half year prison term in exchange for cooperating with the government. The North Providence Democrat and former chair of the Senate Corporations Committee has admitted selling the influence of his office to CVS, Roger Williams Medical Center and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island.

Lawyers for Kramer and Ortiz said Celona did valuable public relations work for the company, including visiting senior centers to talk up CVS services and regularly inviting Kramer on a public access TV show he hosted to promote CVS charitable events.

CVS said in a written statement it had long believed Kramer and Ortiz did nothing criminal.

“We are pleased for these two men and their families that this long and painful ordeal has ended,” the statement said.

Mike DeAngelis, a CVS spokesman, said he would not comment on whether the men would get their jobs back. They have been on unpaid administrative leave.

The trial was the second stemming from a broad federal probe into influence-peddling at the Statehouse. Celona also testified in the first trial two years ago, in which two former hospital executives were convicted of hiring Celona to promote their legislative agenda.

Those convictions were overturned earlier this year because of flawed jury instructions. Prosecutors are retrying the case.

Besides Celona, another former legislator, ex-House Majority Leader Gerard Martineau, has pleaded guilty as part of the government’s investigation and is serving a 37-month prison term.