MIDDLEBURG -- A Snyder County jury convicted a Beaver Springs man of homicide by vehicle Friday, but acquitted him of a more serious charge of vehicular homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol in the August 2005 crash that took the life of Jerry Colabine.

Emery A. Troyer, 26, mouthed "thank you" to the jury, hugged his attorney, Lynn Erickson Ober of Leesport, turned toward his family and friends in the gallery and winked after the verdict was read aloud.

He faces a maximum seven years in prison and $15,000 fine for the third-degree homicide by vehicle conviction when he's sentenced Nov. 21 by Union-Snyder President Judge Harold F. Woelfel Jr.

The jury found Mr. Troyer not guilty of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and two counts each of aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence and DUI.

Judge Woelfel also found Mr. Troyer guilty of six summary traffic offenses, including reckless and careless driving.

Prosecutor Anthony Forray of the state Attorney General's Office and Mr. Colabines parents and siblings were dumbfounded by the outcome of the three-day trial.

"We respect the jury's verdict, but we're very disappointed," Mr. Forray said.

"The entire family is very distressed and we still don't have closure," the Colabines said in a statement.

Mr. Troyer was on trial for the Aug. 6, 2005, accident on Route 522 in Franklin Township that killed Mr. Colabine, 41, of Beaver Springs, and injured his wife, Audrey, and their two children, Candice, 14, and Miranda, 12.

The jury heard testimony from Mr. Troyer, the young Colabine girls, witnesses at the scene of the crash, state police and lab technicians regarding the handling of the blood-alcohol evidence.

Mrs. Ober apparently was very effective in raising doubt about the blood-alcohol concentration evidence presented by the commonwealth.

At trial she questioned a lab technician about a stamp that read "trouble" on a box containing vials of Mr. Troyer's blood that the prosecution contended showed his blood-alcohol concentration soon after the accident was 0.129 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

During closing arguments, Mrs. Ober hammered the point by calling the blood testing "suspect" and enough to raise reasonable doubt.

Mr. Forray addressed the matter briefly in his closing, reminding the jury that the lab manager where the blood was drawn testified that the "trouble" stamp on the evidence was likely placed on the box by accident.

After the verdict, Mr. Forray shook his head regarding the jury's decision to acquit Mr. Troyer on all driving under the influence of alcohol-related charges.