A Fayette County jury yesterday convicted a Uniontown youth league baseball coach of hiring an 8-year-old to injure a teammate last summer.

Mark Downs Jr.

After almost seven hours of deliberation, and twice asking a judge to clarify the charges, the jury convicted Mark R. Downs Jr., 29, of Dunbar, of criminal conspiracy to commit simple assault and corruption of minors for promising $25 to one of his best players if he hurled a ball at Harry Bowers Jr., 11, an autistic and mildly retarded teammate.

Mr. Downs was found not guilty of the more serious charge of criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, and the jury could not reach agreement on whether his actions constituted reckless endangerment.

Judge Ralph C. Warman ruled a mistrial in the reckless endangerment charge, and the prosecutor said the county would not retry Mr. Downs on that charge.

Mr. Downs stared at the jurors and showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. Family members who sat in the front row of the gallery were equally expressionless.

"The verdict vindicated the fact that the little boys the jury heard were telling the truth," Fayette County District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon said after the trial.

"Coaches and parents and teachers all owe a responsibility to bring children up, and particularly coaches, and teach them about teamwork and sportsmanlike conduct. This is a serious breach of sportsmanlike conduct."

Mrs. Vernon said she would not pursue the reckless endangerment charge because Harry did not face a near-death scenario after he was hit in the head with the baseball.

Mr. Downs' attorney, Thomas Shaffer, said his client was "let down" by the verdict.

"In reality the truth did not come out," Mr. Shaffer said. "This was a technical situation that dealt with the rules of evidence that precluded the truth from coming out." He said he plans to file an appeal.

Most of the evidence in the case hinged on the testimony of Keith Reese Jr., now 9, and his father, Keith Reese Sr., who said Mr. Downs asked Keith to hit Harry with a baseball as they warmed up before a playoff game in June 2005.

The father and son testified that Mr. Downs told Keith he would give him $25 if he hit Harry. The younger Keith testified that after he hit Harry, his coach asked him to go out there and "hit him harder."

Mr. Reese testified that Mr. Downs confessed after the playoff game that he done something "pretty ignorant."

During warmups before the game, Keith hit Harry twice with a baseball -- the first bounced and hit him in the groin, and the second ricocheted off the left side of his face, tearing his earlobe.

Mr. Downs took the stand Wednesday and flatly denied the charges against him, saying it was all a misunderstanding. He testified that at a previous game he jokingly told his entire team that he would give a player $25 if he "line drived" the umpire.

Michele Lynn, 28, of North Union Township, the jury forewoman, said Mr. Downs' testimony was not believable and that the children who testified for the prosecution seemed more credible.

"He [Mr. Downs] really didn't have the believability or the honesty," said Mrs. Lynn. She said the jury could not reach a decision on the more serious charges because they did not all believe the ball could have seriously injured or killed Harry.

She said the actions of Mr. Downs would "corrupt any young children's morals."

During closing arguments earlier in the day, the defense sought to discount all of the allegations against Mr. Downs as fabrications of a child. Mr. Shaffer portrayed his client as a coach and a parent who cared about the welfare of his players.

The prosecution countered that Mr. Downs contended that everyone who testified during the case had fabricated the story so they could defame him.

"This is Americana, where it is 1, 2, 3 strikes and you're out at the old ball game," said Mrs. Vernon. "You never expect that you're going to be out before the game has even started."

"You never expect that your coach will design a plan that you are not going to play," she said.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 12 at 2:30 p.m.