New Hampshire- A jury convicted Joseph Haniffy yesterday of raping a Concord woman in March while selling magazines door to door, but cleared him on a charge of conspiracy. Haniffy, 25, could face 20 to 40 years in prison.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about eight hours over two days before returning their verdict at 1 p.m. Haniffy did not visibly react in the courtroom. The victim and her husband wiped away tears when the verdicts were read.

Haniffy’s public defenders, Donna Brown and Meredith Lugo, could not be reached yesterday, and it was unknown if they will appeal. Some speculated a guilty verdict would prompt plea deals in the rape cases against two other salesmen who were with Haniffy, the first of whom is to stand trial late next month.

Not so, said lawyer Ted Barnes yesterday. He represents salesman Cassidy Coburn, 19, of Utah, who is due to go to trial last, sometime next year. “This doesn’t change my client’s statements that he is not guilty,”Barnes said. The lawyer handling the next case – against Christopher Armstrong – could not be reached.

Prosecutor David Rotman of the Merrimack County Attorney’s office, who handles many of the office’s sexual assault cases, said the case was won on the honesty of the victim.

“The verdicts in (sexual assault) cases depend upon the courage of victims to come foreword and testify truthfully and honestly,” Rotman said. When asked about the inconsistencies in the woman’s account of the assaults, Rotman said that’s natural for someone overcome with shock and fear. (The woman differed on whether the men had forced their way in or been allowed in. She also initially left out details about her own flirting.)

“We don’t live in a perfect world, so it’s gratifying to see the jury understand that not everything is going to fit together perfectly,” Rotman said. He also credited the Concord police, specifically Sean Ford and Mark Dumas, the two lead detectives on the case.

Haniffy of Chicopee, Mass., went to trial last week on five charges; yesterday he beat two and lost three.

The first charge alleged he had conspired with Coburn and Armstrong to rape the woman in her Pleasant Street apartment on March 28. The other four charges accused him of raping her himself twice by making her perform oral sex, once in the bedroom and again in the bathroom.

Each rape was charged twice, under alternate theories; one theory alleged Haniffy had overcome the victim with physical force, the other alleged he had ignored her spoken or physical protests.

Jurors cleared Haniffy of conspiracy. They also cleared him of one of the rape theories that alleged he had overpowered her in the bathroom. Instead, they convicted him of that rape by finding he had ignored her protests. As for the rape in the bedroom, they found he had raped her by both overcoming her physically and by ignoring her protests.

The split verdicts mean Haniffy could face 20 to 40 years in prison instead of 30 to 60. The latter is the recommended sentence, meaning Judge Edward Fitzgerald has the discretion to impose a shorter sentence, but not a longer one. He has an additional choice of making Haniffy serve the two sentences back to back or at the same time.

After the verdicts were read, Fitzgerald revoked Haniffy’s $500,000 bail and returned him to the Merrimack County jail pending sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. Haniffy has been in jail since his April arrest, unable to make bail. He sat through most of the trial alone, only with his lawyers. His mother, who lives out of state, attended one day of the trial.

Over five days of testimony, jurors heard conflicting accounts from the salesmen and the victim. The case was additionally challenging given the victim’s testimony that she had served the men beer, flirted with them, played a kissing game with them and danced in their presence in a provocative pair of shorts. She also told them she had joked with the men about her “stripper shoes.”

Haniffy took the stand, too, and told jurors the woman had come onto him in her apartment and willingly performed oral sex. His camera phone had three photographs of her performing oral sex on him just before he left her apartment. And her phone number and nickname were programmed into his cell phone. She said he got the information through nefarious means, while he said she had given him her number at the end of the night in hopes of joining the sales crew.

Jurors either declined comment or could not be reached yesterday. One alternate who learned at the end of the case that she would not be allowed to deliberate was surprised yesterday to learn that the other jurors had convicted Haniffy.

“I would have voted differently,”said Barbara Merullo. “The (salesmen) weren’t guilty. She let strange guys into her lap. She dances for them. She didn’t deny any of this to us. She served them beer. And when (Haniffy) came in, she sat on his lap and grabbed him? Come on.”

Coburn and Armstrong testified at Haniffy’s trial and said the sex was consensual.

Immediately after the incident, however, Armstrong and Coburntold the police that the sex had gone too far and the victim participated only because she was afraid. Jurors got a glimpse of that discrepancy, but it didn’t sway Merullo.

“I heard them admit they had had sex with her,” she said. “They never said they had forced her.”