A Columbia University graduate dodged a potential life sentence Thursday after a jury acquitted him of attempted murder for allegedly torturing his father with a metal wrench for nearly four hours in a battle over his late mom’s $2 million fortune.

It took the jury less than a day to find Jason Heyworth, 37, not guilty of eight of the nine counts against him for the alleged June 9, 2017, attack on Eric Heyworth, 71. He wept and hugged his defense lawyer, Todd Spodek, when he heard the verdict.

Heyworth was convicted of second-degree assault for bludgeoning his dad and faces two to seven years in prison when he’s sentenced Sept. 9.

“There wasn’t enough evidence,” said one juror, who declined to share his name.

After a neighbor heard agonizing cries for help and called the cops four times, police arrived at the Harlem apartment and Heyworth opened the door. “He was attacking me so I hit him with a wrench,” Heyworth blurted. “He owes me money. This is all over my mother’s will.”

Cops found the elder Heyworth, a retired city teacher who graduated from Harvard, on the floor, half nude, blood streaming from his mouth and ear and barely coherent.

Police said that the elder Heyworth was in such bad shape they didn’t think he was going to make it and asked him who did this to him. He muttered softly, “Jason.”

A second juror said, “They didn’t prove anything.” He added, “Everybody has fall out with their parents. Everybody fights. They got into a fight.”

Prosecutor Sarah Marquez said the elder Heyworth was beaten so severely, he spent weeks in the hospital and suffered permanent brain damage. He couldn’t remember the vicious assault and did not testify.

A third juror said she didn’t believe the retired teacher had brain damage. “He wrote the DA. He wrote everything normal,” she said, referencing a letter the father sent asking prosecutors not to call his girlfriend as a witness. She also didn’t believe he was beaten with the wrench. “He had no broken bones. I think it was a fist,” she said.

During the trial, Spodek told jurors that Marvin Gaye’s 70-year-old father fatally shot him to argue that a frail man can be the aggressor.

“It’s important to remember that Marvin Gaye was 44 years old at the time, and his father was 70,” Spodek said. “The pictures show the end result of this incident. They don’t show what happened before.”

Spodek argued that the elder Heyworth was irate that his wife left him a mere $60,000 while his sons got $1 million each.

The elder Hayworth blew $120,000 of his late wife’s estate to sue his sons over the inequitable distribution and lost, the attorney told jurors.

He said the defendant showed up that afternoon to try to repair his relationship with his dad, the executor of his mom’s will, who he believed had siphoned off part of his inheritance. The long-simmering resentment finally exploded.

Marquez told jurors that Hayworth, an amateur film producer, had frittered away his entire inheritance and was about to be evicted from his apartment over $11,000 in back rent. He asked his dad to let him move back in — but the elder Heyworth said no.

“He ambushed his father after hiding by the door,” she told jurors in closings. “Once inside he brutally beat his father for hours, hitting his father’s hands, forearms, face and head, watching as his father’s eyes and left ear swelled and blood poured from his mouth.”

The elder Heyworth was covered in vomit and had crawled from room to room, smearing his blood on the floor and doorframe, she said.

Spodek said after the verdict, “My heart goes out to the Heyworth family and I hope they can all come together after this tragedy.”