AUBURN – It felt like an acquittal.

Scott Poirier’s family and friends cheered when the judge released him on $25,000 bail.

“He’s coming home!” they shouted into their cell phones moments after Androscoggin County Superior Court adjourned Friday.

Poirier pumped his arms in the air before guards handcuffed him and led him back to jail to be formally discharged.

Dozens of jubilant supporters marched up the sidewalk and waited in frigid temperatures for more than an hour. As dusk cast them into silhouette, Poirier was released from jail, where he’d spent the past 14 months. He scooped up his young sons and told the crowd he was going to spend time with his kids and wanted to be left alone.

Three hours earlier, a jury found Poirier not guilty of murdering his father, Roland “Jerry” Poirier , on Nov. 8, 2006. After five-and-a-half hours of deliberation, jurors found Scott Poirier guilty of manslaughter. Sentencing is set for March 17.

Poirier had admitted fatally shooting his father in the throat with a hunting rifle while Roland Poirier celebrated his 65th birthday with family at his dining room table in the evening. His son stood outside on the back patio in the rain and fired a bullet though French doors, grazing his aunt in the arm. In response to a question from a detective, he agreed it was payback for his father performing a sex act on him when he was a teenager.

The jury was divided after the six-day murder trial. At the start of deliberations Friday, four wanted to acquit him, four were ready to convict him and four voted for the lesser charge of manslaughter. They settled on manslaughter, said defense attorney Steven Peterson of Rockport, after quizzing jurors on their verdict.

“Obviously, we would have liked to have had an outright acquittal,” he said.

The jury believed Poirier suffered from an “abnormal condition of mind” when he shot Roland, rendering him unable to knowingly or intentionally cause his father’s death, Peterson said.

Poirier, dressed in dark slacks, an off-white buttoned-down-collared shirt and tie, showed little emotion when the jury foreman said, “Not Guilty.” Poirier sat still a moment later when the juror said, “Guilty.”

He was released on $25,000 cash bail. His sister, Tammy Brule, handed over the final $40 she carried in her purse.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese had argued to keep Poirier in jail until his sentencing, but Peterson pointed out that, aside from a charge of operating under the influence, Poirier’s criminal record was clean.

In setting bail, Justice Joyce Wheeler told him she wasn’t concerned he might harm somebody else. She was “very concerned” that “You might screw up between now and sentencing by using alcohol and abusing drugs,” she said. If he were to indulge, that action would likely result in a stiffer sentence, she said.

She told him to stay away from people who aren’t clean and sober.

Poirier listened intently and nodded frequently as she read the litany of bail conditions that included:

• stay away from bars or other drinking establishments;

• engage in counseling that has sex abuse as a component;

• possess no dangerous weapons, including knives;

• check with police twice a week for drug and alcohol testing;

• attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous;

• have no contact with a half-dozen people, including his brother, Raymond; and

• have no visits to his excavation business, which he owns with his mother and brother, without first having his attorney notify his brother.

“It is all in your hands,” she said. “Do you understand?”

“Thank you,” he answered.

Peterson said he would ask the judge to sentence his client only to the 14 months he’s already served.

Manslaughter is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. A murder sentence carries a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life.

Henriette Poirier, Scott’s mother and the wife of the victim, testified she only learned of the sexual abuse the night of the shooting.

After the verdict, she told reporters she would go home and cook her son a porterhouse steak and “sit him on my lap, and I’m gonna rock him like I used to when he was a baby.”

The shooting had broken her family, she said. Her son Raymond testified against Scott at the trial and was not celebrating his release Friday.

Henriette said she hopes the rift will heal some day.

“My children come first in my life, she said.

“I hate my husband for what he’s done. No parent, no father should ever touch their kids,” she said. “It’s not right.”

She and Marchese hugged in the hallway outside the courtroom.

“You watch your boys,” Henriette Poirier told the prosecutor.

“I will. I will,” Marchese said, then referring to Scott Poirier, “And listen, you keep him clean.”

“Oh, I am… Believe you me, he’s going to be clean.”

Staff Writer Lindsay Tice contributed to this story