STUART, Fla. — A jury found that the hosts of a summer barbecue were not civilly responsible for a fatal car accident caused by one of the partygoers.

Six days of emotional testimony focused on the events that precipitated a car crash that killed two teenagers. The jury was asked to assess the accountability of John and Barbara O'Brien, an affluent couple who discovered minors drinking alcoholic beverages at a June 17, 2002, pool party they hosted for their teenage daughter.

With its verdict, reached after two and a half hours of deliberation, the panel found that the O'Briens did not violate Florida's "Open House Party" law, which says that property owners must take reasonable steps to prevent underage drinking on their premises.

After the party, Stephen Bromstrup, 16, drove off in his Pontiac Firebird with two friends. Bromstrup's speedometer hit an estimated 90 mph just moments before he skidded through a stop sign and smashed into a speeding Cadillac, killing Sarah Stone, 14, and Alexandra Quaroni, 13.

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When hospital workers drew blood from Bromstrup an hour after the accident, his blood-alcohol level measured 0.07, which is below Florida's legal limit for adults driving.

Tim and Elizabeth Stone, Sarah's parents, sued the O'Briens for wrongful death, alleging the couple did not do enough to prevent underage drinking at their home. Bromstrup testified he did consume at least two beers at the party, but attributed the crash to speed, not alcohol.

Over the course of the trial, the jury heard widely differing accounts of illegal drinking and the steps taken to end it.

In his closing arguments Monday, Guy Rubin, who represented the Stones, depicted the pool party as an unsupervised boozefest where the young guests roamed freely with paper cups full of beer. And even worse, according to Rubin, Bromstrup sat poolside with an open beer can in plain sight for much of the evening.

"It's one thing to be oblivious," Rubin said. "And it's another thing for the thought to hit you that there's a danger here and then elect your daughter's good time over safety."

Rubin contended that Barbara O'Brien did not want to embarrass her daughter, so she did little when she encountered four separate incidents of underage drinking.

William Reese, counsel to the defendants, painted a very different picture of the party, one where parents adhered to a zero-tolerance alcohol policy and took necessary action to curtail any illegal consumption.

"You've got to distinguish between the horror of the accident and whether the O'Briens were responsible," Reese said. "When you think about all of the testimony, the conduct of John and Barbara that night, they acted as responsible parents."

Reese, who earlier told the jury that Barbara O'Brien disciplined anyone she saw drinking, said that bravado and speed were to blame for Bromstrup's reckless driving.

"This accident happened because he was going way too fast and showing off for his friends," Reese said.

Though Bromstrup was not a defendant in the civil trial, he did have his share of legal problems in connection with the tragedy. He avoided a criminal trial by pleading no contest to vehicular homicide and related charges. He is serving seven years in a juvenile facility and will be transferred to an adult prison when he turns 21.

During closing arguments, Rubin told the jury — with photos of the crushed cars displayed behind him — that Sarah Stone's death was the result of the O'Briens' bad choices.

By choosing not to call the parents of those who were caught drinking, by not taking their car keys and by not calling the police, the O'Briens cost Sarah Stone her life, Rubin said.

"They could have saved Sarah's life, but they chose not to," Rubin said. "That's a choice that changed the Stones' life forever."

Reese countered Rubin's claims, arguing that many things could have stopped the accident from happening, including the driver of the Cadillac, Edward Wetherbee.

If Wetherbee had been obeying the speed limit, he wouldn't have been in Bromstrup's path as he raced through the stop sign, according to Reese. Wetherbee was driving 58-mph in a 50-mile an hour zone at the time of the accident.

"Everyone can always say how, if I had done something different, maybe this wouldn't have happened," Reese told the jury. "If Bromstrup decided not to show off to his friends, maybe if the convenience store didn't sell them the alcohol, it wouldn't have happened."

The case was tried in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in Martin County. The verdict and trial highlights are available on Court TV Extra.