Bradley Dusan Fletcher, drank, took cocaine and donned some boxing gloves with his friend Bradley Evennett to celebrate moving into a house together in Sydney's northwest on March 22, 2024.
But the friendly sparring became deadly when Fletcher unleashed blows that left his friend lying face down in a pool of blood.
The 39-year-old faced a weeks-long trial in the NSW Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to murdering his friend, who lived with a genetic disorder that causes brittle bones.
Fletcher denied he intended to seriously injure Mr Evennett but accepted responsibility for his friend's death with a plea of guilty to manslaughter, which was rejected by prosecutors.
After two days of deliberating, a jury acquitted Fletcher of murder on Tuesday afternoon.
"We find Bradley Dusan Fletcher not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter," the foreperson told the court.
The 32-year-old had been hit twice, kicked in the head and then punched in the head three times while lying on the ground, crown prosecutor Kate Ratcliffe told the jury during the trial.
"This is not a case of sparring that got out of hand," she argued.
"The accused wanted in that moment to hurt Mr Evennett".
But the jurors rejected the argument when they returned a not guilty verdict, finding the evidence did not prove Fletcher intended to cause his friend serious harm.
The cage fighter didn't call triple zero when he realised Mr Evennett was unconscious, telling the court he panicked and didn't realise the severity of the situation.
He said he took a Xanax and didn't remember dragging the dead man's body to a car, loading it into the boot and driving to a nearby street before dumping it on the footpath.
Mr Evennett's body was found by a passerby who called triple zero and it wasn't long before police were knocking on Fletcher's door.
The jurors heard he was candid when speaking to officers and even told them he deserved the maximum sentence for the assault.
"We were sparring, we were boxing, it was an accident, bro," Fletcher told police.
"You don't kick your best mate in the face, he's got a bone disease".
Fletcher was convicted of manslaughter after the verdict was handed down.
He will face sentencing in the NSW Supreme Court at a later date.
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