A man involved in a shooting was yesterday cleared of attempted murder after jurors decided he acted out of “sudden passion” when he was not in the right frame of mind.

Nazzareno Briffa, 49, of Birkirkara, was found guilty of seriously injuring victim Peter Borg but the jury’s verdict was that this crime was “excusable” due to the “sudden passion”.

After nearly five hours of deliberation, jurors found Mr Briffa guilty of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and of damaging a billboard. During the week-long trial, jurors heard how the two men had argued in a bar on July 22, 2009. Mr Briffa had gone home to fetch a shotgun and went to Mr Borg’s farm on the Birkirkara bypass.

He fired two shots at a Banif Bank billboard and then shot Mr Briffa in the face when he came out to see what had happened.

During pleas on punishment, defence lawyer Edward Gatt and prosecuting lawyer Maurizio Cardona disagreed on which article of the law should apply in this case since the jurors had said the serious injury conviction was “excusable”.

While the defence said that the punishment could not exceed six months’ imprisonment, the prosecution argued that Mr Briffa may be imprisoned for a maximum of six years.

Dr Gatt said the court should consider that his client had been provoked after having been called names at the bar. He appealed to the court not to impose an effective jail term.

Dr Cordina, on the other hand, called for imprisonment since Mr Briffa was not a first-time offender and had already been accused of another attempted murder in 1992. This caused uproar in the courtroom, with the defence lawyers banging and shouting saying the law was clear on which provision in the criminal code should apply.

Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano put off the case for sentencing on Tuesday.