YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — A 20-year-old Granger, Wash., man has been convicted of second-degree murder in the 2010 stabbing death of a man he contends tried to rape him.
The verdict Wednesday from the Yakima County Superior Court jury prompted an audible gasp from the family of 48-year-old Leonardo Cantu Jr. He was stabbed Nov. 5, 2010, in the backyard of his Granger home.
Nathen Bennett faces a standard sentencing range of 12 to 18 years.
Bennett testified he stabbed Cantu for trying to rape him after Cantu invited him to smoke marijuana. A pathologist testified she counted 26 stab wounds on Cantu’s body.
