SPOKANE -- A Spokane County jury has acquitted a Deer Park man of vehicular homicide in a November 2005 head-on crash that killed five children from a Chewelah family.

NWCN

Clifford Helm hugged a loved one after a Spokane County jury found him not guilty in the vehicular homicide case.

The jury reached its verdict Friday, finding 58-year-old Clifford L. Helm not guilty of causing the collision on U.S. Highway 395 north of Spokane that killed the children between the ages of 2 and 12.

Helm also was acquitted of one count of vehicular assault.

Helm took the stand to say he didn't remember the collision that also severely injured him, but testified he had a coughing fit and passed out.

Prosecutors contend Helm was using a cellular phone when he drove hundreds of feet in the wrong direction before the crash.