cleared of manslaughter.

Jason Vegosen, 15, was acquitted on Saturday after his lawyer told a Florida court the shooting of Ryan Hayward was a tragic accident.

He was also acquitted of having a gun without adult supervision. But he was found guilty of "improper exhibition'' of a firearm, which carries a sentence of up to a year.

He will be sentenced later.

After the verdict Ryan's American mother ran weeping from the courtroom, and his grandmother accused Vegosen of shooting in a fit of anger.

The tragedy happened last August at Vegosen's home in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

Vegosen took his father's gun from a locked box in a locked filing cabinet and was showing it to Ryan when it fired, Police told the court.

Ryan was living in Florida with his mother, who separated from his Bermudian father Mr. Robert Hayward.

Vegosen called 911 and tried to give Ryan CPR, but the bullet had entered his brain and he lived for only about an hour.

Mrs. Millicent Hedman, Ryan's grandmother, said after the trial that the judge "did the best he could do with what he heard''.

But she said her neighbours should have been called to testify.

"They told me the boy got angry and got the gun. The child has an uncontrollable anger.

"He got the gun in anger and shot my baby.'' Friends of Vegosen told the three-day trial in Sanford, Florida he had taken the gun from his father's cabinet at least three times before.

Once he put the weapon to a playmate's neck, the court heard.

But doctors, teachers and family friends testified Vegosen had medical problems that made him emotionally immature.

His condition limited his vision and caused concentration problems, they said.

Vegosen's lawyer, Mr. James Russ, reminded Judge Leonard Wood of three manslaughter cases where convictions had been overturned on appeal.

One involved a reserve Policeman who accidentally shot his wife dead.

"Are you asking this court to hold a little boy with a mental age of 10 or 12 at a higher level of handling a gun than a trained Police officer?'' Mr. Russ asked prosecutor Mr. Ralph Eriksson.

Mr. Hayward, who lives in Warwick, has been fighting for custody of Ryan's sister Ashanti and brother Robert.