After less than two hours of deliberations, the jury in the Wayne Oxley murder case reached a verdict of not guilty Thursday afternoon.

7 News reporter John Friot, on scene, says Oxley broke down crying as the verdict was announced.

Jurors started deliberating at 2:20 p.m. today.

The nine woman, three man panel had weeks of testimony and 170 pieces of evidence before it.

Oxley told Friot he first wants to see his children, and then begin putting his life back together.

He said he was "a little shocked, very grateful to that jury and to God."

Click picture to see Wayne Oxley's reaction

Chief assistant district attorney Amanda Nissan declined to comment on the acquittal.

Oxley's lawyer, Peter Dumas, said he believed the turning point in the trial was Oxley's decision to testify.

Oxley was on trial in St. Lawrence County court in Canton for the 2005 killing of his Ogdensburg neighbor, Bernard Trickey Jr.

It was the third trial for his neighbor's murder. The conviction from the first trial was thrown out by a state court and his second trial ended in a hung jury.

In her closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Amanda Nissan portrayed Oxley as a cold-blooded killer who killed Trickey in a fit of rage.

Trickey was beaten to death in his Ogdensburg home with a wooden baseball bat in August 2005.

This is Oxley's third trial for his neighbor's murder. The conviction from the first trial was thrown out by a state court and his second trial ended in a hung jury.

There were no eye witnesses, so the prosecution's case has been largely circumstantial.

During her closing, Nissan held up the bloody bat allegedly used and a graphic photo of Trickey's battered head, saying Oxley was the one who inflicted the deadly blows.

"It wasn't just one strike," she said, "it was over and over and over and over."

Oxley's lawyer told the jury that the prosecution's case falls way short of proving Oxley was the killer.

Peter Dumas said there was more testimony from prosecution witnesses "as to who couldn't have done it than that Wayne Oxley did it."