LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The federal hate crimes trial of two men in Kentucky accused of beating another man because he was gay quickly grew murky, with tales of substance abuse, drug deals gone bad and homosexual trysts.

The result was an acquittal — an embarrassing blow for prosecutors trying their first case under a hate crimes law expanded in 2009 to apply to crimes motivated by, among other things, a victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation. The two men, 20-year-old Anthony Ray Jenkins and his cousin, 37-year-old David Jason Jenkins, were convicted in federal court in London, Ky., of conspiracy and kidnapping, however.