Tuskegee man convicted of stabbing longtime Auburn friend to death

A Tuskegee, Ala., man was convicted of murder Tuesday in the stabbing death of a longtime Auburn friend.

A Lee County jury convicted Gregory Stephen Gray Jr., 24, in the December 2013 death of Richard Kenneth DeVore, 24, at the Garden District Apartment Complex in Auburn.

The jury heard from 27 witnesses and there were more than 250 exhibits, including crime scene photos of images of more than 30 knife wounds.

"We are very pleased with the jury's verdict and the closure it provides the DeVore family after two long years of waiting," District Attorney Robbie Treese said in a statement. "Although they will never know what motivated this tragedy, they have justice for their son."

Treese said the collection of DNA evidence was vital in the case and served as a voice for DeVore.

Dr. Alfredo Paredes, the senior state medical examiner, testified the victim sustained three life threatening injuries, two punctured lungs and a cut to the abdominal aorta. Defensive wounds on the victim in

dicate a violent attack in which DeVore fought in vain for his life.

A blood splatter expert from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences said patterns at the crime scene indicate the victim sustained multiple injuries.

A forensic scientist testified that DNA analysis revealed that all but one swab from DeVore's apartment tested positive for the victim's blood and one was the defendant.

Blood from the victim and defendant was found on the outside door knob of the victim's apartment, in the parking lot and inside the defendant's vehicle. Clothes from the defendant were discarded but they too tested positive for the victim's blood.

Gray didn't testify during the trial but the defense argued that it was a case of self-defense.

The district attorney's office argued the lack of defendant's blood inside the apartment proved that he was cut toward the end of his attack on the victim and not in an attack by the victim.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Tuskegee man convicted of stabbing longtime Auburn friend to death ."