The couple remained still as the verdict was read. Richard Killpack put his hands over his face afterward, while the jury of five women and three men were polled to confirm the verdicts. As the jurors were dismissed, he put his arm around his wife.

While the courtroom emptied, Jennete Killpack hugged her supporters and said, "Let's go home."

The couple declined to speak to reporters. Jurors, who had deliberated for about six hours, also said they did not want to be immediately interviewed.

"I'm surprised with the split verdict," said prosecutor Sherry Ragan. "We felt they were equally culpable . . .. We are gratified that at least one of them will be held responsible."

Mapleton Police Chief Dean L. Pettersson, who investigated the case as a Springville detective, also was surprised by the split decision. "Justice was done," he said. "[But] there's a little girl who's not here anymore who deserves to be here."

Defense attorney Michael Esplin, who represented Jennete, said no decision had been made about filing an appeal.

"We thought we created reasonable doubt," he said. One explanation for the split, he said, is that "the jurors felt Mrs. Killpack had more contact with the child."

Attorney Shelden Carter, who represented Richard Killpack, added: "I expected not guilty on both . . . I'm very disappointed."

As jurors left the courtroom, Carter put an arm around Jennete Killpack's shoulders and later said he told her something to the effect, "I don't believe you did this for a minute." Jennete Killpack, 29, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 7 by 4th District Judge Claudia Laycock. The second-degree felony count carries a maximum sentence of one to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors did not ask to take her into custody, and did not immediately say what sentence they will seek.

The couple have four children, including one adopted child. Richard Killpack, 37, works for Novell and Jennete is a homemaker.

"They'll find a way to survive," Carter said.

Jennete Killpack was accused of forcing Cassandra to drink a fatal amount of water on June 9, 2002, as punishment for reportedly sneaking a drink of juice. The girl's sodium levels plummeted, causing her brain to swell to fatal proportions, according to prosecution experts.

In closing arguments, prosecutor David Sturgill said the couple knew better than to force Cassandra to drink what physicians estimated to be one to two gallons of water. He pointed to a statement Richard Killpack made to police, in which he explained to his wife that forcing their adopted daughter to drink water was "dangerous."

"They disregarded that risk," Sturgill said. "But for that forced water, she'd be alive today."

The Killpacks testified the girl suffered from reactive-attachment disorder (RAD), and that water-drinking was part of a strategy intended to help her bond with her new mother. Jennete Killpack told police Cassandra could handle between 32 and 40 ounces of water.

Jennete Killpack bit the child over one eye and tied her hands behind her back while trying to get her to drink that day, according to trial testimony. Richard Killpack came home at the end of Cassandra's water intake and saw his wife fighting with the girl, who was "striking out" and "defending herself," Sturgill said.

Prosecutors also put on evidence that Jennete Killpack once struck Cassandra's head with a spoon hard enough to cause bleeding, and had choked her, leaving bruises on her neck.

Esplin argued prosecutors did not prove the couple knew water drinking would case serious physical injury. The Killpacks "had no clue" about water intoxication, Esplin told jurors.

The attorney concluded by echoing Jennete Killpack's words: If she had known it would cause any harm to Cassandra, she wouldn't have done it.

Carter questioned the prosecution's theory about what killed Cassandra. Defense experts claimed a head injury caused when the girl fell from a barstool and hit her head on the floor contributed to her death. The Utah State Medical Examiner's office characterized the injury as "a small bruise" that had nothing to do with the death.

Esplin and Carter portrayed the Killpacks as loving parents looking for help for their daughter, whose behavior had included urinating on the floor, destroying property in the Killpacks' new Springville home and keeping the family up at night.

The Killpacks made a memorial to Cassandra and went to a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to have the girl sealed to them. "Look into their eyes," Carter had urged jurors. "They love this little girl."