A Lincoln County man is facing up to 15 years in prison afterbeing convicted Friday of fondling a child during an April 2001incident at his home.

Timothy Dupuis, who now lives in Bogue Chitto, was convicted ofthe lesser offense of touching, handling or feeling a child forlustful purposes instead of the more serious sexual batterycharge.

“I think they basically chose the middle ground,” said defenseattorney Joe Fernald about the jury’s verdict.

While both are felonies, a sexual battery conviction carries amaximum penalty of life in prison while the maximum for fondling is15 years. Sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday before Judge MikeSmith.

Fernald said the verdict indicated that the jury had problemswith both the prosecution’s and the defense’s versions of the factssurrounding the April 16 incident at Dupuis’ home at 1016 NorthJackson St. The attorney said an appeal is expected.

The jury deliberated about two hours in reaching itsdecision.

After the verdict was read, the victim, who was 10 at the timeof the incident, and her family members hugged Assistant DistrictAttorney Diane Jones. Dupuis was placed in handcuffs and taken outof the courtroom.

“I’m pleased there’s a guilty verdict and that this is finallyover for the victim,” Jones said.

Last week’s two-day trial was the second for Dupuis. InSeptember, a jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision in thecase.

On the witness stand Friday, a crying victim testified that shewas scared when Dupuis began touching her while she was asleep.

“I just wiggled, but he didn’t stop,” the girl said.

When he took the stand, Dupuis denied the incident completelyand said the accusation was “crazy.”

“I did not touch (the girl) in any way,” Dupuis said.

In other testimony, Dupuis talked about going to Texas to seehis mother after the incident was reported, returning toMississippi a few days later and getting about 90 sleeping pills ina failed suicide attempt.

“The accusation of what’s going on has ruined my life,” Dupuissaid.

During closing arguments, Jones said the victim had beenconsistent in her telling of the incident to hospital, lawenforcement and Department of Human Services officials. Fernaldcountered that the girl’s ability to retell the story did not riseto the level of evidence, and that there were inconsistencies toprovide reasonable doubt.