Attorneys said the case against Jon Barbour — the Gunbarrel man who shot a neighbor last year in a dispute over feeding squirrels — was a matter of he-said/he-said.

With their verdict Friday, 12 Boulder County jurors let it be known whose story they believed was the truth.

The jury found Barbour, who’d claimed self-defense, guilty of attempted murder and first-degree assault following a four-day trial in Boulder District Court.

Barbour, 60, did not react as Judge Maria Berkenkotter read the verdict shortly before 10 a.m. The jury started deliberations Thursday afternoon before returning Friday morning.

Berkenkotter ordered a pre-sentence investigation and scheduled Barbour’s sentencing for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 4. He faces 10 to 32 years in prison followed by a mandatory five years of parole.

Because he was convicted of a crime of violence, Berkenkotter ruled that Barbour no longer was eligible for bond and he was remanded into custody.

“We deeply appreciate the hard work of the jury, and are gratified to see justice served for the victim,” Boulder Deputy District Attorney Lisa Saccomano said following the verdict.

District Attorney Stan Garnett said he, too, was happy with the verdict.

“This case reflects that gun violence will always be taken very seriously by this DA’s office, regardless of who the shooter is or how ridiculous the nature of the dispute,” he said. “A civilized society can not tolerate people using firearms whimsically, and then invoking the Second Amendment after the fact to claim some sort of justification.

“Gun violence is gun violence, and we are pleased that justice was done.”

David Sanderson, Barbour’s attorney, declined to comment.

Barbour shot his neighbor Jeffrey Browning in the back on May 12, 2016, after what prosecutors said was an argument stemming from Barbour’s habit of feeding peanuts to area squirrels.

During closing arguments on Thursday, Saccomano said that Barbour put up fliers — which he signed as “The Squirrel Guy” — explaining that he fed the squirrels because it made him feel closer to his deceased parents.

Saccomano said Barbour became mad when he saw Browning take down those fliers, and that led to the shooting.

Sanderson, however, had argued Browning attacked Barbour, and that the gun when off when Barbour pulled it to try and defend himself during the struggle.

There were no other witnesses to the shooting itself, but one juror who spoke on the condition of anonymity said something was “fishy” about Barbour’s version of events.

“It was about which situation was more probable,” the juror said.

While there was some discussion about the legal terms and a close examination of the statutes, the juror said that almost all 12 jurors were in agreement about what they thought happened early in deliberations.

In total, the jury deliberated for about four hours.

“We were mostly on the same page right away,” the juror said.

Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars