Jury acquits Nancy Kerrigan's brother in father's death

Mark Kerrigan, right, looks at his family with defense attorney... — Mark Kerrigan, right, looks at his family with defense attorney Hank Brennan at the end of the day of his involuntary manslaughter trial at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Mass. (May 24, 2011) Credit: AP

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSMay 25, 2011

Nancy Kerrigan says that her family never believed that her brother had anything to do with her father's death and that her father never would have wanted him prosecuted.

She made the brief comment Wednesday outside the court where Mark Kerrigan was acquitted of manslaughter in the death of 70-year-old Daniel Kerrigan.

Mark Kerrigan was convicted of assault and battery in his father's January 2010 death at the family's home in Stoneham, north of Boston.

Prosecutors said Mark Kerrigan grabbed his father around the neck during an argument, fracturing cartilage in his larynx and triggering heart failure.

Defense attorneys said Daniel Kerrigan's heart failed because he had severely blocked coronary arteries, not because of the altercation.

Nancy Kerrigan and her family have supported her brother. The family insists Mark Kerrigan did not cause his father's death.

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