VISTA -- After more than two days of deliberations, a jury Thursday afternoon convicted an Escondido middle school teacher of molesting eight male students in his classroom.

The jury found former Rincon Middle School teacher Peter T. Ziskin guilty of 17 of the 26 child molestation counts he faced and not guilty of six other counts. The jury failed to reach a verdict on three remaining counts.

The guilty verdicts seemed to stun Ziskin and his supporters, who argued that the charges were unfounded and rose from a witch hunt. The verdicts appeared to come as a relief to some of the parents of the boys who accused Ziskin of fondling them.

The 44-year-old Solana Beach man is set to be sentenced July 18. Now a convicted serial child molester because there were multiple victims, Ziskin faces 15 years to life in prison.

The verdicts came at the end of a two-week trial that saw 10 of Ziskin's accusers take the stand, as well as some three dozen people who testified in support of the teacher.

A longtime substitute for a number of North County school districts, Ziskin was in his first year as a full-time teacher at Rincon when an aide reported that she'd seen him with his hand down the pants of a male student.

The ensuing police investigation uncovered at least a dozen alleged victims. Ziskin's supporters claimed investigators had asked suggestive questions, leading the kids to believe they had been molested.

On Wednesday, after Superior Court Judge Timothy Casserly read off the first in what would be a long list of guilty verdicts, the seemingly stunned Ziskin stared off to his left at a courtroom wall, occasionally running his fingers through his hair and adjusting his glasses. His eyes were fixed on the wall or the floor through the rest of the verdicts.

The defendant's older brother, Michael Ziskin, sat a few rows behind him in the jam-packed courtroom, staring at the floor as Casserly said "guilty" 17 times.

Parents of the victims, some of them red-eyed and many of them who said they were relieved by the verdicts, watched as a bailiff handcuffed Ziskin at the end of the hearing.

During the trial, Ziskin was out of jail on $1.75 million bail secured by a combination of cash and his family's commercial property holdings. After the verdict, Casserly ordered Ziskin back into custody with no bail.

Ziskin stood trial last month on charges that he fondled nine male students, some repeatedly, while roughhousing with them on the campus of Rincon Middle School between September 2004 and January 2005. He was also accused of trying to molest the 11-year-old son of a longtime friend.

Jurors found Ziskin guilty of fondling eight of the boys, but cleared him on charges related to the ninth student and to the son of Ziskin's friend.

"There was overwhelming evidence" against Ziskin, said a female juror who declined to be identified.

Prosecutor Tracy Prior argued during the two-week trial that Ziskin used wrestling and horseplay with the boys as a ruse to slip his hands down the boys' pants as he hoisted them into the air to spin them over his head.

Some of the boys testified that the back of Ziskin's hand directly touched their genitals, others of the boys said the teacher inappropriately touched them over their clothes.

Ziskin's attorneys told the jury their client was the victim of an out-of-control rumor mill that fueled a witch hunt at the school in early 2005, after a teacher's aide reported that she had walked in on Ziskin with his hand down a boy's pants.

The defense also argued that Ziskin did not have the sexual intent that must be found in child molestation cases in order to convict a defendant. After the verdicts, Ziskin attorney Christopher Plourd surmised that the jury did not believe the horseplay was innocuous.

"They didn't accept that he didn't have any lewd and lascivious intent," Plourd said.

During the trial, nearly three dozen people testified as character witnesses in Ziskin's defense, many of them supporters who adamantly proclaimed his innocence.

Some of them, including Michael Ziskin, argue that the kids were not molested, but rather the horseplay was misunderstood by adults, who then convinced the kids they were victims.

After the verdict, as she had done during the trial, prosecutor Prior rejected that characterization.

"These kids were not coached, tainted or contaminated," she said, later adding, "Today justice was done and he was labeled a child molester."

In the courthouse hallway after the hearing, Ziskin's longtime friend Tom Cleary -- Ziskin was the best man at his wedding nearly two decades years ago -- appeared stunned.

"He's not guilty, he's just not guilty," a shaken Cleary said. "Until my dying day I will proclaim his innocence."

Ziskin attorney Plourd said his client will probably file an appeal.

Parents of the victims said they were relieved.

"The right decisions were made," said the mother of one of the boys. "He's going where he needs to go."

The North County Times does not name the victims of molestation or their family members.

Ziskin will not be retried on the three counts for which the jury failed to reach a verdict, the prosecutor said.

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Escondido Union School District Superintendent Mike Caston declined to comment on the verdicts, citing "the continuing possibility of litigation in this case."

Thus far, only one claim related to any alleged molestations has been filed with the school district. That $250,000 claim, filed by the family of a boy who said he was molested, has been rejected by the district, and no lawsuits appear to have been filed in court.

The boy whose family filed the claim was at one time included among the alleged victims in the criminal case against Ziskin. But last year, prosecutor Prior dropped the charges related to that child, saying she didn't feel she could prove the boy's allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.

Prior also noted at the time that the $250,000 claim was a secondary reason for not including the boy among the alleged victims in the criminal case.

Wire services contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.