Brazil jury absolves rancher in murder of U.S. nun

BRASILIA (Reuters) - A jury in Brazil on Tuesday convicted in a retrial a man accused of murdering a U.S.-born nun but acquitted a previously convicted rancher accused of ordering the killing in a land dispute in the Amazon rain forest in February 2005, a court said.

Dorothy Stang's death became a symbol of the often violent conflict for natural resources in the vast Amazon region. For more than 20 years she helped peasants threatened by loggers and ranchers and opposed the destruction of the rain forest.

In a surprise verdict, the jury absolved cattle rancher Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura of charges of having ordered a gunman to kill Stang, a court in the Para state capital Belem said in a statement.

In a previous trial, he had been convicted and sentenced to a 30-year prison term. Under Brazilian law defendants have the right to a retrial on sentences beyond 20 years.

The same jury sentenced Rayfran das Neves, who confessed to killing Stang, to 28 years in prison. In a previous trial he had been given a 27-year sentence. Neves tried to convince the jury that he had not been hired to shoot Stang and did so because he felt threatened by her.

Stang was shot six times and left lying in the mud in the town of Anapu in the frontier state of Para.

The verdict caused an uproar in the courthouse and disbelief among Stang's family and friends.

"We're surprised at the result. We will try all the different agencies and judicial instances to appeal this phase and we hope that we'll win at another time," David Stang, brother of the nun, said after the trial.

Judge Raimundo Alves Flexa repeatedly interrupted the session, local media reports said.

The public prosecutor in the case intends to appeal the decision, Estado news agency reported.

Police and army troops have been patrolling in and around Anapu since the Stang murder. But violent land conflicts continue in much of the vast Amazon region.

(Reporting by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Bill Trott)