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November 28, 2009

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Man convicted in stabbing death in May

Mathis Winkler

Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2001 | 9:43 a.m.

Although a murder weapon was never found and no one witnessed the crime, a Clark County District Court jury on Tuesday convicted a man of second-degree murder for stabbing another man to death.

Edward Smith will be sentenced by District Judge Kathy Hardcastle on Feb. 13. He faces a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison.

Smith, 35, claimed he acted in self-defense when he stabbed Martinique Tillman, 21, about 6 a.m. on May 28.

While Tillman died from eight knife wounds, Smith only had a laceration on his left hand. The crime occurred in Smith's car outside an apartment complex near the intersection of Sierra Vista Drive and Cambridge Street.

After the verdict, Tillman's mother, Pam, said she was glad to see Smith go to prison.

"I think he belongs behind bars," she said. "If the jury hadn't done their job, there would have been another victim."

Tillman added that she had worried about the jury's decision because no one saw the murder and the knife was never found.

But one of Smith's two defense attorneys, Deputy Special Public Defender Bret Whipple, said his client's taped admission to holding the knife in his hand didn't point to a jury verdict favorable to Smith.

"It was an uphill battle for us," Whipple said, adding verdict will be appealed as required by law.

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