Man armed with kitchen knives killed 46-year-old on street, NM officials say
A man accused of using kitchen knives to fatally stab another man in New Mexico has been convicted following a trial, officials said.
Tonekwueme Hamilton, now 47, was found guilty of first-degree murder in Jose Sena’s 2021 slaying, the Ninth Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a July 3 news release.
The charge carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, prosecutors said.
McClatchy News reached out to Hamilton’s attorney July 7 and was awaiting a response.
Police found Sena dead on a street in Clovis on March 18, 2021, after responding to a report of an unconscious man, prosecutors said. He’d been stabbed in the abdomen and chest, and investigators found two kitchen knives near his body, prosecutors said.
He was 46 years old when he died, according to the Clovis Police Department.
An officer canvassing the neighborhood came across Hamilton, who was outside, according to prosecutors. “When questioned, Hamilton immediately confessed, stating, ‘It was me, sir,’ and later, ‘I stabbed him,” prosecutors said.
Hamilton “further claimed the victim had ‘bragged on killing my brother,’” according to prosecutors. More information about that allegation wasn’t immediately available from prosecutors.
Hamilton later “confirmed that the knives used came from his own residence,” prosecutors said.
In an online obituary, Sena was described as “a hard worker with many talents,” who was passionate about cars, music and most of all his children.
District Attorney Quentin Ray said his killing “was a senseless and violent act, and today’s verdict brings justice for the victim and his family,” per the news release.
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