Albany, N.Y. (AP) - New York's top court has vacated the murder conviction of a Rochester man who claims he stabbed his fiancée 47 times while under emotional duress.
Donyell McKenzie says the jury should have had the option to consider his "mental infirmity" and a lesser manslaughter charge.
The Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial, agreeing the jury, not the judge, should decide the merit of McKenzie's defense.
McKenzie was convicted of killing Tyffany Porter in their Rochester apartment in December 2006. He contends prosecution evidence was sufficient to establish his extreme emotional disturbance.
That included a heated argument, admissions of infidelity, prior knife threats against him and his admission afterward to a friend that he "just snapped" before turning himself in.
The 32-year-old was serving 25 years to life in prison.
