STEPHENVILLE -- A man was sentenced to a 10 years probation and a $10,000 fine Wednesday after a jury convicted him of bribery in the 266th Judicial District Court.

A jury of nine men and three women found Peter Hellmuth Eggert, 63, guilty of bribery after deliberating for about three and a half hours Tuesday. The jury sentenced him to 10 years in the institutional division of the Criminal Justice Department, but it was suspended to a 10-year probation Wednesday after the jury deliberated about an hour.

Witnesses for the state said Eggert had offered a bribe to Lee Roy Gaitan, a Tarleton State University police officer, in April 2004 to obtain signatures on affidavits in an attempt to influence the Court of Appeals to overturn the conviction of Marcos Gallardo, who pleaded guilty of sexual assault in April 2002.

Eggert allegedly told Gaitan he was working to keep the convicted man from being deported. The affidavits apparently were for the victim and the mother of the victim and stated the sexual assault never happened.

Gaitan, who was a candidate for constable at the time, testified that Eggert gave him a check for $100 for his campaign and said several times that "this is not a bribe." He also said that Eggert repeatedly said "funds are available" if the affidavits were signed. Gaitan did not cash the check for the campaign contribution.

Eggert took the stand on his own behalf and testified that Gaitan was lying, as were the Erath County District Attorney, the Texas Ranger and the mother of the sexual assault victim. He denied that he ever represented himself as a lawyer licensed in Texas.

In closing arguments, special prosecutor Garry Lewellen told jurors that Gaitan was caught up in the web of deceit thinking Eggert was a lawyer. When he began to think there was something illegal going on, Gaitan went to the authorities.

Gerry Morris, attorney for the defense, said it was up to the jury to decide which witnesses were credible and maintained that Gaitan's body language indicated he was lying.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, Lewellen said this was the first bribery case he was aware of in the past 35 or 40 years. He said the jury should send a message that "this type of corruption will not be tolerated in this community."

Morris told jurors to consider that bribery is a second-degree felony, as is sexual assault of a child and burglary, and to weigh the severity of the crime and grant his client probation.

In addition to the probated sentence and fine, Eggert was sentenced to 180 days in the Erath County Jail. He was granted an appeal bond of $7,500, and no time will be served until the appeal process is complete.