SALT LAKE CITY - A boy accused of stabbing his friend to death during a sleepover was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder and evidence tampering.
Brookes Colby Shumway, who was 15 at the time of the slaying, was tried as an adult and faces up to life in prison. It took the jury two hours to find him guilty of stabbing 14-year-old Christopher Ray 39 times with kitchen knives.
''Justice has been served,'' Ray's mother, Debra Robb, said after the verdict was announced. ''And maybe my son can rest now.''
Defense attorney Randall Lund had contended Shumway, who had a cut on his hand, acted in self-defense after Ray attacked him with a butcher knife the morning of Jan. 23. A teacher had testified that Shumway was a calm, agreeable student and the slain boy was ''a hothead.''
Prosecutor Katherine Bernards-Goodman said Shumway attacked Ray as he slept on a couch after the boys played video games and that he waited before waking Ray's mother.
Before the trial, Shumway gave varying accounts of what happened the night of the slaying, including the self-defense argument and a statement that Ray fell on the knife. At one point he also claimed the victim's mother took part in the stabbing.