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VERNAL, Utah (AP) — A 35-year-old man has been convicted in the January 2013 beating death of his cousin at a Uintah County mobile home they shared.
A jury deliberated for about three hours Friday before finding Jose Eduardo Leiva-Perez guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 39-year-old David Urrutia.
He faces up to life in prison when he's sentenced Nov. 5 in 8th District Court.
Police say Leiva-Perez first implicated three other people in his cousin's death, then maintained he killed Urrutia in self-defense after his cousin pulled a gun on him because he was not paying his share of the expenses.
But investigators say there were no signs of a struggle and Urrutia was lying on a bed when he was hit at the home near Fort Duchesne.
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