SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) New Mexico's highest court has upheld a Taos man's conviction for stabbing his 1-year-old son to death after a domestic dispute with the mother. Christopher Barney was sentenced to life in prison for the May 2010 death of the infant known as “Baby Landon.'' The state Supreme Court on Monday upheld Barney's convictions of intentional child abuse resulting in death.
Barney contended that a judge wrongly allowed testimony at his trial from the infant's mother, who was Barney's girlfriend, that he hit her in a fight earlier on the night of the baby's death. The prosecution had argued that evidence of the fight established a possible motive that Barney killed the baby to get back at the mother.
The Supreme Court concluded that the testimony wasn't unduly prejudicial.
