When friends and family members of Gerald Dawson heard that his killer had been convicted of second-degree murder on Saturday night, there were smiles and expressions of relief, but little happiness.

"Being this is the second time, I'm not going to hold my breath," the deceased's daughter, Shirley Dawson, said today, referring to the fact it was Karen Rodrigue's second trial for the same crime.

In 2005, Rodrigue was convicted of second-degree murder for killing Gerald in the early hours of June 17, 2004.

She was sentenced to life imprisonment without chance of parole for 10 years.

But in 2007, three Yukon Court of Appeal justices said the trial judge's instructions to the jury had been confusing and overwrought; they declared a mistrial and the whole matter went back to court.

As Crown counsel David McWhinnie explained to a family member on Saturday, this may not be the end of proceedings; there is always some opportunity for an appeal, "as a double-check," he said.

"The system is so much there for the defendant," Shirley said. "I don't know how we could go through this again."

The hardest part for her, she said, was listening to the accusations against her father, knowing they would be published in the newspapers and broadcast on the radio.

"Those are just allegations," she said, shaking her head in dismay, "The public who don't know him, that's all that they see."

Rodrigue testified she stabbed Gerald in his Marwell home because he had raped her.

"There was no DNA evidence to support that," Shirley said. "There were so many inconsistencies with her testimony."

Whether the jury didn't believe Gerald attacked Rodrigue in the first place, or the five women and seven men believed she was raped but had enough time to think about killing her attacker, the result is the same: a verdict of guilty of second-degree murder.

But their decision was hardly a quick one.

The jurors spent a day and a half in deliberations and twice came back to the court with questions.

On Friday afternoon, they wanted to see a transcript from Rodrigue's testimony.

Deputy Justice John Vertes said it would take days to prepare the entire transcript, so instead the jury listened to a recording of her testimony.

On Saturday morning, they came to the judge again, this time asking for a definition of "sudden."

Seven hours later, just before dinner, they had their verdict.

Rodrigue was silent and stone-faced as she left the courtroom.

Her defence counsel, Richard Fowler, shook his head.

"It's a brutal job," he told the Star later that night. "If you could be cold-hearted and dispassionate about it...it would be a fascinating study.

"But it's not divorced from reality - you are dealing with a real dead body, the family of that person, and a client whose life most of us will never understand.

"How could you get 12 people whose lives are so different to understand the experience of people like Karen Rodrigue and Jimmy Rodrigue and Danny McGinnis? It's sort of like speaking to an audience in Spanish when they only speak English."

Many of the people who testified during the trial, including Rodrigue, are addicted to cocaine and live in poverty.

Losing, Fowler said, "feels like it's all utterly meaningless."

He did not say if his client intends to appeal the latest verdict.

The Dawson family, Shirley said, is still trying to come to terms with Gerald's death.

On the Wednesday before the trial began, the family, along with Kwanlin Dun First Nation elders, burned Gerald's home where he died to the ground.

It was something they had wanted to do for four years, Shirley said, but the appeal had stood in their way.

"I felt as if a weight had been lifted," his daughter said. "Now that (the trial) is over, we can let his spirit go and give it all back to the Creator."

Vertes told the court Saturday night he will reserve his sentencing decision until Tuesday morning.

Crown counsel and the 12 jurors all recommended that Rodrigue be allowed the chance for parole after 10 years.

Rodrigue has already served four years at a federal penitentiary in Edmonton. She will be held in custody in Whitehorse until tomorrow.