A Butler County jury Friday convicted James Borchert of third-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife and of voluntary manslaughter for killing his wife's boyfriend.

The mixed verdict split the difference between the most serious first-degree murder conviction prosecutors had sought and the defense's hope of an acquittal.

The seven-man, five-woman jury, in announcing its verdict after 2Z\x hours of deliberating, appeared solemn.

"It was a very difficult decision just knowing you have someone's life in your hands," one juror, a Butler woman in her mid-50s, said outside the courthouse afterward. "Overall this was a sad, sad situation."

Borchert, a 51-year-old career farmer, claimed he killed Esther Borchert, 42, and Lonnie Schwab, 49, inside his Cherry Valley farmhouse on Aug. 14, 2007, because he believed they planned to kill him.

Borchert grabbed a loaded .270 bolt action rifle and first shot Schwab.

A conviction of voluntary manslaughter for Schwab's death implies the jury believed the killing occurred in the heat of passion.

The conviction is a first-degree felony but not a murder charge. The most Borchert could be sentenced on this crime alone is 20 years.

After shooting Schwab in the neck and chest, Borchert chased his wife to the front door and shot her in the back. The first blast knocked her down a 5-foot set of steps, where Borchert shot her again.

A conviction of third-degree murder implies the jury believed Esther Borchert's death was a murder done with malice.

However, this conviction does not necessitate Borchert had the specific intent to kill, which is required for a conviction of first-degree murder. The most prison time a person could face on a third-degree murder charge alone is 40 years.

"When he chased her down, he took that heat of passion away,"District Attorney Richard Goldinger speculated as to the difference in the jury's verdicts. "Ihave to thank the jury for fully weighing the evidence and doing what they thought was right."

After the verdict, defense attorney Al Lindsay said this case had come a long way from it's origin, when prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for Borchert.

"This is a success in some ways,"Lindsay said of the verdict. "But we were hoping for better."

During his closing remarks, Lindsay asked the jury to scrutinize the deceased's background and motives.

He backed his client's assertion that Schwab was a "dirt bag," telling jurors the man previously was convicted of sexually assaulting a child.

And Esther Borchert, the defense claimed, was a chronic adulteress, having cheated on her faithful husband numerous times.

Lindsay told the jury "it's just common knowledge" that "when you are involved with a married woman, her husband may kill you."

Lindsay urged the jury to question why a woman who told friends her husband was suicidal over the break up of their 24-year marriage would do "the most provocative thing she can do ... bring her lover to her husband's home ... That is bizarre at best."

The prosecution countered the victims were not present to tell their side of the story because Borchert killed them.

Whatever their backgrounds included, the district attorney said, "They did not deserve to die."

Goldinger, during his closing statement, urged jurors not to buy Borchert's justifiable homicide story, which he called "out of left field."

Goldinger suggested the defendant made up the tale while sitting in prison over the past 13 months.

Goldinger also made reference to the numerous times Borchert said he did not regret the deaths. Goldinger implored the jury, "Make him regret killing those people."

Borchert will be sentenced Oct. 14 by Butler County Judge William Shaffer, who presided during the four-day trial.

While a handful of Borchert's family members attended trial every day, no one from the family of Schwab or Esther Borchert ever attended.

Borchert has been in the county prison since the day of the shootings and will remain there until sentencing. County tax records show he still is the owner of the 145-acre farm.