Las Cruces man acquitted in fatal 2015 stabbing

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A 19-year-old convicted felon has been acquitted of murder in the stabbing death of a 20-year-old Las Cruces man. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/2igGCRd ) that a jury on Wednesday found Jose Luis Salazar Jr. not guilty in connection to the death of Carlos Adrian Contreras Jr. Salazar is currently service prison time in an unrelated case. Salazar was accused of deliberately killing Contreras in June 2015 during a party. During the trail, witnesses testified that Salazar, then 17, and Contreras had been arguing before the stabbing. Salazar was armed with a knife at the time of the confrontation. Defense attorneys relied on a lack of forensic evidence in their arguments. The knife used to stab Contreras was never found.