Both sides of the courtroom burst into sobs Thursday when a Butler County jury declared Jarred Knight guilty of third-degree murder.

Knight's family was hoping for an acquittal, standing by their son's claim that the 2007 death of 13-month old Tyler Davis was an accident.

But Tyler's family grieved the knowledge that whatever the trial's outcome, they already had lost.

"There is no verdict in the world that will bring our boy back," said Tyler's mother, 23-year-old Jessica Davis. "But after two years, we are glad what the district attorney has done."

Tyler died June 24, 2007, a day after incurring massive head injuries while in the care of Knight, now 24, of Harrisville.

Prosecutors asserted Knight, who only weeks earlier learned he was not the boy's father, slammed the boy's head into a bathroom wall.

Under the leadership of Butler County District Attorney Rich Goldinger, prosecutors sought a conviction of first-degree murder and a penalty of death.

A first-degree homicide is one with premeditation and malice. Third-degree murder requires malice but not premeditation, and cannot carry a death sentence.

Butler County Judge Timothy McCune, who presided over the four-day trial, said he would schedule Knight's sentencing later.