Mark Kerrigan found guilty on lesser charge

As the jury finished reading its verdict yesterday in Middlesex Superior Court, after more than 15 hours deliberating, the defendant’s sister, former Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, and her mother Brenda hugged and dabbed at their tears. They attended every moment of the nine-day trial and supported Mark despite the charges brought after the death of 70-year-old Daniel Kerrigan.

“My family has never believed at all that my brother had anything to do with my father’s death,’’ Nancy Kerrigan said outside the courthouse, as she clutched her mother’s arm. “My dad never would have wanted any of this.’’

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Keeley said she did not prosecute the case any differently because the victim’s family supported the defendant, which is highly unusual in such cases. “There are no winners here,’’ she said.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. expressed satisfaction at the conviction, even though it was on the lesser charge.

“When a defendant commits criminal conduct the way this defendant did, they need to be held responsible and accountable, and this verdict holds Mark Kerrigan accountable and responsible for beating his 70-year-old father,’’ he said at a press conference at the courthouse.

Judge S. Jane Haggerty scheduled a sentencing hearing for 9 a.m. today. Nancy Kerrigan may give a victim impact statement at the hearing, requesting that the judge set a minimum sentence. Her brother has already spent four months in jail.

Prosecutors had argued that Mark Kerrigan, 46, fought with his father in a late-night, alcohol-fueled argument over the use of the family’s telephone, grabbing him by the neck, crushing the cartilage there, and triggering his heart failure.

Keeley said in her closing argument Monday that the son’s “actions set into motion a natural and continuous sequence of events that led to Daniel Kerrigan’s death.’’

After the verdict, Leone said, “If it were not for the actions of this defendant, we would not be here today, and Mr. Kerrigan would not have died in the manner that he did on the floor of his home. This verdict speaks to the actions of an angry, belligerent, highly intoxicated 45-year-old man who cared more about himself and his selfish desires than his 70-year-old father.’’

Defense attorney Janice Bassil of Boston said in her closing argument that the prosecution had failed to prove its case. She suggested that the elder Kerrigan’s heart failure began before he started grappling with his son, adding that he had a long history of coronary artery disease, which was so advanced that three of four major arteries to his heart were almost fully blocked with fatty deposits when he died.

Bassil conceded that Mark Kerrigan told police he had grabbed his father by the neck, but she told jurors that they could not rely on what he said that night, because he was drunk.

“I would have liked a not-guilty verdict on everything,’’ Bassil said. “I don’t think the government proved its case. I’m glad the jury saw the truth, that there was no manslaughter here, there was no killing here, and they convicted him of the least charge they could.’’

She added: “It was going to boil down to the facts, the science, and the medicine, and that’s what the jury understood. . . . This has been an enormous ordeal for Nancy and particularly her mother.’’

Lawyers for both sides said the maximum sentence he could receive is two years in jail.

Police were first called to the family’s house early in the evening of Jan. 23, 2010, after a woman said Mark Kerrigan was harassing her and would not allow her to leave, prosecutors said. Daniel Kerrigan, who was eating dinner with his wife at his sister’s home, returned early to try to calm his son, prosecutors said.

Over the next several hours, prosecutors said Mark Kerrigan guzzled a bottle of Scotch and repeatedly argued with his parents, who refused to allow him to use the phone to call the woman.

They said that sometime after midnight, Mark Kerrigan began screaming obscenities and yelling about the telephone not working. His parents, who were asleep, put on their clothes and went downstairs to the kitchen to talk to their son.

Prosecutors have said the conversation escalated into a violent physical altercation, in which the son “pushed, grabbed, and shoved’’ his father, causing a compression fracture to the left thyroid cartilage of his larynx.

Daniel Kerrigan was pronounced dead that night at Winchester Hospital.

The trial featured tearful testimony by Brenda Kerrigan, who disputed that the confrontation between her son and husband, which she witnessed, was a fight.

She said the two had been in what appeared to be a bear hug, for less than 10 seconds, when Daniel Kerrigan collapsed. She said she never saw Mark with his hands on his father’s neck.

Mrs. Kerrigan twice sat through the playing of the 911 tape from that night, which featured her frantic voice reporting the trouble in her home.

After the closing arguments, jurors deliberated four hours on Monday, then eight hours on Tuesday, before resuming deliberations for about three hours yesterday.

Jurors could not be reached for comment. The Globe, as well as other news organizations, filed a motion with the judge, seeking access to a list of the jurors, as is commonly provided by many trial courts.

The judge declined to rule on the request yesterday and did not indicate when she would issue a ruling.

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.