VALPARAISO | A jury deliberated about a half hour Friday before returning to find former Portage school bus driver Terry Burch not guilty of felony child neglect on allegations of ignoring various disciplinary problems on his vehicle last school year.

The 69-year-old Portage resident, who had faced the possibility of going to prison for three years if convicted on the charge, said through his attorney that he was glad the experience was over and grateful for each juror who "spoke the conscience of our community."

Deputy Prosecutor Tim Haraminac declined to guess what, if any impact the ruling could have on the remaining criminal cases involving the three boys believed responsible for sexual assaulting and otherwise terrorizing fellow students on the bus.

Following a couple days of often-conflicting testimony, Haraminac took a last minute shot Friday morning at convincing jurors that Burch put the students in harm's way.

"He was told numerous times something was going on in his bus and he did nothing about it," he said.

Haraminac said evidence was presented this week that one such incident was brought to Burch's attention Feb. 5, yet he replied, "It's not my problem" and drove off.

Burch testified Thursday he knew nothing about the Feb. 5 incident, which involved allegations that a female student had been sexually assaulted by two of the three boys charged.

Defense attorney Gregory Sarkisian told jurors Friday that Burch is not a criminal, but rather has been made a scapegoat by school administrators, who failed to do everything they could to protect the students.

The defense had faulted the administration this week for failing to notify Burch of the lengthy list of disciplinary problems involving the three boys in question and for failing to respond to numerous student conduct complaints filed by Burch.

"The administration should be sitting right alongside this man," Sarkisian said referring to Burch.

Students who rode the bus during the September 2008 to February 2009 period in question testified this week that the behavior on the bus was regularly rowdy, but there were differing opinions on whether Burch responded properly or even at all.

Haraminac reiterated his argument Friday that Burch filed just one student conduct complaint while failing to respond to incidents such as the alleged sexual assault.