A Yukon Supreme Court jury passed down a guilty verdict Wednesday afternoon against the bouncer accused of sucker punching a drunken patron outside Coaster's Bar in 2007.

But Clinton Derkson won't be sentenced for another four months as the court waits for a pre-sentencing report.

The 23-year-old man is convicted of aggravated assault against an out-of-town diamond driller named Joshua August.

On Oct. 2, 2007, August and a friend, Brent Lebrasse, were drinking in Coaster's Bar.

By the time 2 a.m. rolled around, the two were extremely drunk and became belligerent when they were asked to leave.

After finally hustling the two out of the bar, several staff members, including Derkson, went outside for a smoke. The drillers returned and Lebrasse began fighting with one of the Coaster's group.

Standing at the edge of the scuffle, Derkson threw a single punch which landed on the side of August's head, knocking the driller to the ground and leaving him with a broken jaw and fractured skull.

Derkson said it was an act of self-defence.

An eyewitness, one of Derkson's colleagues, says it was completely unprovoked. August and Lebrasse remember nothing of the night after he left the bar.

The six-woman, six-man jury went with the eyewitness account.

However, jury members had trouble coming to a unanimous decision on which version of events they believed.

Several hours after going into deliberations Wednesday, the jurors sent the presiding judge, Justice J.E. Richard, a note saying they could not come to an agreement.

He called them back into the courtroom and explained that a non-decision would result in a retrial - a costly process which would further clog an already overburdened court system.

An hour later, they came back with a decision.

Derkson has been free on bail since he was charged with the crime in the spring of 2008, and will remain so, after Richard adjourned his sentencing hearing until the end of October.

The adjournment came at the request of Derkson's lawyer. He asked that the judge give Derkson a conditional sentence - one that would be served outside of jail - while the Crown prosecutor suggested the judge sentence Derkson to 16 months in jail.

Generally, when the defence and prosecution are in stark disagreement on sentencing, the judge uses a pre-sentencing report to help decide the issue.

The report is done by a parole officer, in this case one from Surrey, B.C., where Derkson now lives.

Richard is a Yellowknife-based judge, so the hearing must wait until his next scheduled visit to the Yukon.

The judge said he would allow the unusually long wait between conviction and sentencing because "this is a serious offence and this guy is only 23 years old.

"We have to do our best to come to an appropriate sentence."

During the trial, the jury did not hear of Derkson's criminal record, which includes a conviction of assault.

The judge, however, will consider that when sentencing the man.