SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A federal jury Thursday convicted a 26-year-old white man of burning down a predominantly black church in Springfield in the hours after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, a crime prosecutors say was fueled by racist anger.

The all-white, 12-member jury, which had been deadlocked Wednesday, convicted Michael Jacques of conspiracy against civil rights, destruction of religious property and using fire to commit a felony. Jacques faces 10 to 60 years in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 15 in U.S. District Court.

Jacques and two friends were charged with burning down the Macedonia Church of God in Christ in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 2008. The church, which is near all three men’s homes, was under construction at the time and no one was inside. A few firefighters, however, suffered minor injuries battling the blaze.

All three men confessed to the crime and implicated each other. But Jacques later recanted his confession, saying authorities wore him down during a nearly seven-hour interrogation as he suffered withdrawal from addictions to Percocet painkillers and cigarettes.

Prosecutors said during closing arguments that Jacques’ racism reached the “boiling point” when Obama was elected. They said he often used racial epithets, expressed anger that minorities were “taking over” the country and once set a dog on a black person.

Jacques’ mother and sister testified that he wasn’t a racist, saying the proof came in his love for his biracial nephew and in a former relationship with a Puerto Rican girlfriend.

Relatives of Jacques and a few jurors cried when the verdict was announced. Jacques, who had been free on bond during the three-week trial, was ordered to report to federal marshals at noon today after Judge Michael Ponsor revoked his bail after the verdict.

Jacques insisted on his innocence while leaving the courthouse. “They got it all wrong. I am not a racist,” he said.

His attorney, Lori Levinson, said she was disappointed with the verdict and plans to appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.