Alliance man found guilty in fatal stabbing case

    A Box Butte County District Court jury has found one Alliance man guilty of fatally stabbing another during an argument last summer.

       68-year old George Smith had been charged with 2nd-degree murder, but the jury instead handed down a guilty verdict for manslaughter and felony use of a deadly weapon in the death of 42-year old Stephen Oliver.

      Court records show that Smith and Oliver had gotten into an argument in the early evening of June 19 and that Smith stabbed Oliver in the chest when the argument escalated.    

       Police responding to a call about a stabbing found Oliver in the yard of an Alliance home about 7:30 PM. Smith was arrested a short time later while Oliver died at Box Butte General Hospital.

       Smith faces a combined term of 1-to-50 years in prison when he’s sentenced later this year by District Judge Travis O’Gorman. 

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