By JOHN CURRAN
The Associated Press
1/31/01 6:49 AM

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. (AP) -- When the first verdict was announced, Daniel Cohen clasped his hands together and breathed deeply, overcome by emotion.

Sitting in his living room watching TV, the father of a 20-year-old college student killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 sighed with relief.

"Even this verdict points the finger in the right place. I am tremendously relieved. It's what I wanted. Both would have been better, but the important thing is that the Libyan government has been indicted in this thing," said Cohen, who attended the first week of the trial in Camp Zeist, the Netherlands, last May.

A Scottish court convicted Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi of murder Wednesday in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people. A second Libyan was acquitted.

"Thank God, the whole thing didn't end in nothing," Cohen said.

Cohen, 64, and his wife, Susan, lost their only child, 20-year-old Theodora Cohen, in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Thirty-five other Syracuse University collegians were also aboard the plane when a suitcase bomb exploded on board, destroying the plane and raining debris down on the tiny town.

Eleven of the 270 victims were killed on the ground.

A native of Port Jervis, N.Y., Theodora Cohen was a voice and drama major at Syracuse University returning home for the holidays after spending a semester abroad. Her parents moved to New Jersey after the bombing, in part to escape memories in the house she grew up in.

Her body was found in a sheep pasture.

The Cohens blame the United States government for not acting more drastically to punish Libya. In negotiating with Col. Moammar Gadhafi for the suspect surrender, the U.S. allowed the Libyan strongman to distance himself and his country from the crime.

Pat Brunner of the Hamburg, N.Y., lost the eighth of her eight children when 20-year-old Colleen was killed in the bombing. After a night of fractured sleep, she arose at 4 a.m. to get ready to watch the verdict.

Brunner, whose seven surviving children all live near her, offered a vehement denial when she was asked if there was closure Wednesday.

"No. There is no closure. There never will be closure. I really dislike that word. There's some justice but no closure. Nothing will bring back 270 people and my beautiful daughter."

Bob Monetti, 57, of Cherry Hill, who lost his son Richard Monetti, 20, in the bombing, watched the verdict come in from a closed circuit broadcast in Washington D.C. along with other victims' family members.

"I'll tell you this, in a U.S. civil court, it'll be drop-dead easy to convict Libya, not just this one guy," he said.

Victims' families say the verdict can't soothe the ache of their losses.

"Sept. 11, which was his birthday, will come and Rick won't be there. That'll never change. Does this give us some relief? Yes. Does it give us some resolution? Yes," said Eileen Monetti.

At Javits Federal Building in Manhattan, about 85 Lockerbie family members watched portions of the satellite feed without sound because of technical problems. After learning the verdicts, which were phoned in from the Netherlands, they watched a replay of the proceedings with sound.

Outside the building, Bert Ammerman, of Riverdale, whose brother Tom Ammerman died on the flight, served as unofficial spokesman for the group.

"I didn't have to hear the verdict," he said. "I saw the evidence, and I believed all along that both men were guilty."

Ammerman said the verdict against al-Megrahi "shows and points all the evidence to Gadhafi's feet."

Robert and Peggy Hunt of Rochester, N.Y., lost their 20-year-old daughter Karen in the bombing. The split verdict left the family determined to pursue civil action they say will bring to light evidence of deeper involvement by the Libyan government and others.

"We're extremely happy that the one defendant was found guilty and disappointed that the other was found not guilty," Robert Hunt said at 5:03 a.m., moments after the verdict was announced. "The word 'innocent' didn't sit real well."

Hunt said neither he nor other families involved in a civil lawsuit believe they can "topple governments" or send Gadhafi to jail for the bombing, but they hope to prove the accused did not act alone.

Carole Johnson of Greensburg, Pa., lost a daughter in the bombing. Beth Ann Johnson, 21, was returning from a semester abroad at Regents College in London where she was a psychology major.

Johnson had harsh words for the U.S. government's reaction to the bombing.

"We are not too hopeful for help from our government. The only reason we had a trial was the persistence of the families," she said. "Watching this trial unfold just added to our feeling that the government was not interested. They want to have that oil flowing again (and) 189 dead Americans are expendable."

U.S. Army Sgt. Phillip V. Bergstrom, who was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart medal in 1989, had been stationed in Wiesbaden, West Germany, when he was killed in the bombing.

His mother, Audrey Bergstrom, said the conviction gives her hope that more can be learned who was responsible for the bombing and why.

"We were also told our loved ones died for our country. But when you are dying for your country, you fight back," the Minnesota woman said. "You're not up 31,000 feet in an airplane where you don't have a choice. We say our son was held hostage, and then he was murdered."