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Court Affirms Conviction In Las Vegas Murder

New Mexico's highest court has upheld the murder conviction of a Las Vegas man for the 2009 shooting death of another San Miguel County man.

Louis Benavidez was sentenced to life in prison for killing Kevin Duran outside of the home where the victim lived with his girlfriend and her six children, including a teenage son who fought with Benavidez two days before the shooting.

The state Supreme Court ruled last week there was sufficient evidence to support Benavidez's first-degree murder conviction but the justices reversed a conviction for evidence tampering, which added three years to his sentence.

Police never found the gun used to shoot Duran and the court said there wasn't evidence to show the jury he hid the gun to avoid prosecution.

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