A man accused of stabbing and slashing a fellow inmate at a Las Cruces jail in 2006 has been convicted of second-degree murder.
A state District Court jury on Tuesday also found 38-year-old Dominic Montoya guilty of possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner.
Montoya had been facing a first-degree murder charge.
Investigators say Montoya was detained at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in April 2006 when he stabbed and slashed 29-year-old Adam Avalos and cut his right ear off.
They say Montoya also scrawled in blood his initials and those of an ex-girlfriend on a shower wall.
Montoya says he remembers Avalos cursing at him and then waking up covered in blood.
The case went to trial last week after being rescheduled numerous times over the years.
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