A central Pennsylvania man has been convicted of first-degree murder in the meat-cleaver killing of his 59-year-old roommate during an argument in July 2012.
Lancaster County Judge Jeffery Wright returned the verdict Wednesday against 34-year-old Damien Barnhill of Lancaster.
The Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era said the verdict came after three days of testimony in the nonjury trial.
Barnhill's attorney said 59-year-old Rouit Bahadur was provoking her client and threw the first blows. The judge denied her request to return a third-degree murder conviction.
Prosecutors said Barnhill bludgeoned the victim and repeatedly slashed his neck, then hid the meat cleaver in a garbage disposal.
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