BEVERLY — Beverly Patrolman Stuart Merry was found guilty yesterday of negligent motor vehicle homicide in the death of 61-year-old Bonney Burns.

Merry, 41, faces up to 21/2 years in jail, with a minimum of 30 days, and a fine of up to $3,000 when he is sentenced on April 7. He will also lose his license for 15 years.

The judge and lawyers on both sides agreed to delay the sentencing.

"It's something I'd like to reflect on," Peabody District Court Judge Robert Brennan said. "It's not an easy case in any sense of the word, and it's an unusual case in terms of fashioning a sentence."

Merry, standing next to his lawyer, Neil Rossman, showed little reaction when the jury forewoman announced the verdict just after 10:30 a.m. Outside the court, fellow officers and family members embraced the officer, who appeared shaken.

Prosecutor Nicholas Walsh did not ask that Merry be placed in custody; he has been free on personal recognizance since he was charged last fall. Merry left court with his family and fellow officers. Several of his colleagues declined comment outside court.

Chief Mark Ray, who attended part of the trial, said Merry "served our community professionally and with compassion. He risked his own life to protect our citizens and to keep our community safe.

"It was a tragic twist of fate that he was involved in a citizen's death."

Merry was on patrol on the morning of Jan. 20, 2007, a Saturday, when he headed down Cabot Street, back toward the police station, he testified.

Burns was parked at the corner of Cabot Street and Columbus Avenue, outside her apartment, where she lived alone. Burns usually stopped in front of her house briefly to bring in groceries, her neighbors said.

Sped up to 55 mph

As Merry traveled south, his cruiser accelerated from 8 to 55 mph in the 11.4 seconds before the crash. Merry briefly applied the brakes, for about 3.4 seconds, but the gas pedal was nearly to the floor as he approached a bend in the road.

Two women who were traveling on the same road, one toward him and one behind him, testified that he made a sudden turn to the left and crashed into Burns' car. A third witness, a pedestrian, said the car traveled straight across the roadway. That witness also testified that he didn't see anyone at the wheel.

Merry had just returned from 21 days of sick leave and had taken 111 sick days in 2006. Officials have not disclosed the reason for his absence. He had returned to work the day before the crash.

The crash was a source of speculation for months. Beverly police and Merry's lawyer initially pointed to reports of other cruisers suddenly accelerating on their own and suggested that is what caused Merry to speed into the parked car where Burns was sitting.

But when on-board computers showed no attempt to brake or otherwise control the cruiser in the final eight seconds before impact, the defense shifted, with Rossman putting forward the argument that Merry suffered a seizure that left him unable to control the car.

Rossman told jurors that "no competent, conscious driver could be inattentive for 11.4 seconds," while the car accelerated up to 55 miles per hour and into Burns' car. The only explanation, Rossman suggested, was a seizure, just like one Merry suffered two months later outside a Peabody restaurant. A doctor later concluded that the March seizure was triggered by alcohol withdrawal after Merry said he'd been drinking heavily after the crash.

Distracted?

The prosecution put forward a simpler theory: Merry, for some reason, was distracted as he traveled through Gloucester Crossing, south on Cabot Street. Walsh couldn't offer proof of that but pointed to the 32-ounce orange soda Merry had just purchased at the 7-Eleven as one possible distraction.

And Walsh countered the defense's argument that Merry was lying prone across the passenger seat before the crash by showing jurors a photo of the cruiser's air bag and windshield.

There were blood and saliva on the air bag and a spider-web crack on the windshield, above the steering wheel.

"How does that get there if Stuart Merry was lying down?" Walsh asked jurors during his closing argument Wednesday.

The photo of the blood-stained air bag had been marked as an exhibit in the case by agreement of the prosecutor and defense lawyer, but not shown to jurors until Walsh's closing argument. Walsh, as the prosecutor, gave his closing argument after Rossman's, giving the defense no chance at that point to try to explain it.

The grim-faced jury of five women and one man, who had deliberated for five hours on Wednesday and yesterday, left court together, declining requests for comment.

Rossman told the judge he intends to file at least two post-trial motions, including a motion to set aside the jury's verdict and a second one under a rule that allows lawyers to question the jury if given permission by a judge. He has also said he would appeal a guilty finding.

Merry also still has to deal with charges of driving without a license (his license had expired the day before the crash, on his 40th birthday), speeding and failing to stay within marked lanes. The latter two are civil infractions that are usually dealt with by paying a fine. The charge of driving without a license could be decided by the judge on the day of sentencing.