BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – A novice hunter who accidentally shot a farmer to death while deer hunting was convicted of manslaughter Friday by the second jury to hear his case.

Collin Viens, 20, of Georgia, faces up to 15 years in prison for the Nov. 23, 2005, killing of Rejean Lussier, 60, who was shot once in the chest as he sat in the cab of a tractor in his St. Albans farm field.

The verdict, after about six hours of deliberations, capped a tortured prosecution that included a hung jury, a rejected plea deal, a change of venue that moved the re-trial from rural Franklin County to the state’s biggest city and then a mistrial request by the defense just before closing arguments.

“I think it’s just, I think it’s right,” said Lussier’s son-in-law, Casey O’Brien, 32, outside court. “Out of the whole thing, this is the first time Collin is feeling some of the heartbreak.”

Viens, who hung his head as the verdict was announced, turned around to mouth “I love you” to his parents in the gallery as Judge Ben Joseph polled the jurors one by one.

He declined comment afterward, as did his parents and his lawyers.

On the other side of the courtroom, where widow Bonnie Lussier sat with her daughters and friends, an audible gasp went up when the verdict was announced, followed by tearful hugs.

“I am going to go to the grave … first thing in the morning and tell Rejean that we did the best we could and justice has been served,” she said.

Viens’ attorneys had called the shooting a tragic accident.

and urged members of the seven-woman, five-man jury to acquit him, saying Viens couldn’t have known anyone was sitting in the tractor when he fired on it.

“This was a horrible accident. It is not manslaughter,” said defense attorney Michael Ledden, in his closing argument. “The facts here, they don’t fit the law,” he said.

The re-trial marked the latest step in a prosecution that began last fall, when a jury couldn’t reach a verdict in Viens’ first trial and Joseph declared a mistrial. Four months later, a plea deal was reached but Joseph rejected it as too lenient because it didn’t call for prison time.

Then Viens moved for – and got – a change of venue, persuading Joseph that publicity surrounding the case would have made it impossible to seat an impartial jury for a second time in Franklin County.

On Friday, prosecutor Jim Hughes told jurors to assign responsibility for Lussier’s death to Viens, calling him “extremely irresponsible” when he pointed the gun in the direction of Lussier’s tractor, with the safety off.

“There are no winners here,” said Bonnie Lussier.

AP-ES-08-10-07 2138EDT