BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Attorneys for a Birmingham police officer convicted today on a charge of using excessive force after repeatedly hitting a handcuffed man in the backseat of a patrol car in 2007, said they were disappointed in the verdict.

But the attorneys were happy that officer Corey Hooper was found not guilty of a second charge of using excessive force in the use of a stun gun against another man in a separate 2007 incident.

U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson set Feb. 27 as the date for Hooper's sentencing.

Hooper's attorneys said they will wait until after sentencing to decide any appeal.

"We're disappointed," said Emory Anthony, one of Hooper's attorneys. "But we're thankful the jury found him not guilty on the other count."

Hooper's other attorney, Everett Wess, contrasted officer Hooper, who had two pastors, testify to his truthfulness, against Martez Gulley, a three-time felon who testified about the beating in the backseat of a patrol car. "We think that our client Corey Hooper was credible," he said.

Gulley had won a $75,000 verdict against Hooper last year in a civil lawsuit stemming from the incident.

The jury had deliberated less than two hours before returning their verdict on the charges.

"Few police officers violate their oaths to uphold the law and protect the public, but those who do must be held accountable, as this defendant was today," U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance Vance said in a prepared statement from federal authorities. "I thank the FBI for its hard work compiling the evidence in this case. This was the district's first civil rights trial since my office formed a Civil Rights Enforcement Unit to expand the office's work in enforcing civil rights laws. We are committed to aggressive civil rights enforcement."

"Police officers who abuse their authority undermine the dedicated men and women who put their lives on the line every day," FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Haley III said in the statement. "The sentence handed down today sends the right message to those in law enforcement who would engage in such conduct."

Hooper could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the statement from Vance and Haley.

Hooper has been on unpaid leave from the Birmingham Police Department since his indictment on the charges in July. Birmingham police declined comment today.

Hooper has another civil lawsuit pending in federal court that was filed by a man, Rodney Blanchard, who claims Hooper assaulted him during questioning at police headquarters about a burglary and theft of a lawnmower, according to court documents. Hooper has denied those claims, according to court documents.

Updated at 3:10 p.m. Oct. 3, 2012 with comments from U.S. Attorneys Office and again at 5:22 p.m. with information about a second civil lawsuit

