CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A Harvard grad student was spared the possibility of life in prison without parole as a jury cleared him of first-degree murder but convicted him of voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of an 18-year-old father.

Alexander Pring-Wilson, 26, appeared emotionless as the verdict was read Thursday. He faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced later in the day, but could receive as little as probation.

A panel of seven men and five women, deliberated 21 hours over five days before unanimously reaching their verdict at about 10:30 a.m.

Prosecutors claimed Pring-Wilson stabbed Michael Colono, 18, five times, once in the heart, during a late-night street fight on April 12, 2003, because he was angry at the teen for making fun of him as he stumbled drunkenly past in flip-flops and a raincoat.

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The defendant claimed Pring-Wilson acted in self-defense after being attacked by Colono and Samuel Rodriguez, Colono's cousin, who had a history of convictions for assault and battery.

Pring-Wilson maintained that he was attacked after mistakenly approaching the car because he thought they were hailing him for directions. He said he reached for the 4-inch Spyderco blade in his pocket after being repeatedly punched and kicked in the head by the victim and his cousin, Samuel Rodriguez.

Pring-Wilson, an honor student conversant in several languages, had no prior criminal record and was planning to attend law school before he was arrested.

Colono was the father of a 2-year-old daughter and was a cook at a restaurant on the Charles River at the time of his death.

He said, they said

During three weeks of intense testimony, jurors heard vastly different interpretations of what happened between the two men during their 70-second encounter on that rainy spring evening.

Rodriguez painted the defendant as a knife-wielding aggressor who viciously murdered Colono because the teen called him "s---faced." He testified that he was unable to come to his cousin's aid until the last minute because of his car's faulty passenger-door handle.

But Pring-Wilson's defense team attempted to mar Rodriguez's credibility by pointing out his three prior convictions for assault and battery, as well as Colono's prior conviction on a drug charge. The burly bouncer, who held his dying cousin in his arms minutes after they fled the scene, initially lied to police about his involvement in the fight.

Possibly the most damaging blow to Rodriguez's credibility was the testimony of a former neighbor, Shawn Bates, who called police just hours before the stabbing incident after seeing Rodriguez beating up his own girlfriend in front of their apartment building. Rodriguez denied the accusations, and no charges were ever filed.

Assistant State Attorney Adrienne Lynch lobbied a tough cross-examination of the defendant, who took the stand for two-and-half hours in his defense. She questioned him about his initial inconsistent statements to police, in which he claimed he was simply an innocent bystander who witnessed a stabbing.

She also mocked his melodramatic reenactment of being attacked — "You enjoyed acting in college didn't you?" — while pointing out his lack of visible physical injuries, other than a welt on his forehead, although he claimed to have been brutalized.

Jurors declined comment to the media following the verdict, and lawyers will not make statements until after the sentencing.