He was convicted of beating his neighbor to death with a shotgun that wouldn't fire, but on Friday, Lee Hamilton was made a free man.

A Brazos County jury found the 53-year-old guilty of murder Thursday, and one day later, it sentenced Hamilton to 10 years probation.

The jury punished Hamilton to ten years at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, but decided that the prison sentence should be probated. Hamilton does not have to pay a fine.

"We are pleased that the jury made the right decision in convicting this defendant of murder," Assistant District Attorney Cory Crenshaw said. "Obviously, we feel that violence of this sort should not result in probation, but we respect that difficult decision the jury had to make. We plan to ask Judge Smith to assess both jail time and in custody drug rehabilitation to ensure the defendant is ready for society upon his release back onto the streets of our community."

The judge reset the case for three weeks to determine the conditions of probation should be assessed.

Hamilton escaped conviction in March, when a jury failed to reach a verdict. He could have received a life sentence for the crime.