A jury convicted a woman of custody interference on Thursday for taking her daughter to Spain and refusing to return her to Bergen County despite court orders to do so.

In a verdict reached in less than two hours, the jury found Maria Jose Carrascosa guilty of eight counts of interference with custody and one count of contempt of court.

Carrascosa, of West New York, showed no emotion; only lowering her head at one point while the verdict was announced in the courtroom of state Superior Court Judge Donald R. Venezia.

Carrascosa took her daughter, Victoria, to Spain in 2005 amidst a custody dispute with her ex-husband, Peter Innes. A family court judge in August 2006 then granted sole custody of the girl to Innes and ordered Carrascosa to bring her back to Bergen County within 10 days.

She failed to comply though and was arrested in November 2006 for contempt of court. She has remained in Bergen County Jail since then, filing appeals that were denied at all levels of state and federal courts. The courts in both countries claim jurisdiction over the case and there has been no settlement reached despite attempts by judges and diplomats on both sides.

Prosecutors maintained that Carrascosa ignored court orders, concealed the child from Innes and took her overseas away from her custodial father.

But Carrascosa, who testified at her trial, said an order in Spain does not allow her daughter, who lives with Carrascosa’s parents, to leave the country until she is 18.

She also said she left Innes to escape an abusive relationship and that Innes was a danger to her and her daughter. Innes has refuted those allegations, calling them absurd.

Carrascosa faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced in December. If she receives a 10-year prison term, she has served enough jail time to be considered for parole eligibility, according to state parole calculations. But it’s unclear whether she would continue to remain in jail for contempt of court related to the family court order or whether she would be granted early release.

Innes said he had mixed emotions about the verdict.

“While I feel vindicated of the heinous allegations made against me throughout this entire process, it saddens me to think that yet even more time will pass that Victoria will not have either of her parents in her life,” he said in a prepared statement. “The true victim in all of this is Victoria. It has been over three years since she has seen her mother and five years since I have spent any real time with her.”

Defense Attorney Scott D. Finckenauer said he intends to appeal.

“Certain decisions the court gave during the course of the trial will frame the basis of an appeal,” he said. “Hopefully the appeal will remedy what we see as a serious injustice.”

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Carol Novey-Catuogno said while the office was pleased with the verdict, it doesn’t “remedy the underlying situation.”

“The child remains in Spain and continues to be separated from her father,” she said.

E-mail: sudol@northjersey.com