CONCORD – The state supreme court has upheld the conviction of Corey Furgal for killing a Merrimack man with a knife during a 2009 party, rejecting arguments that the jury should have been told more about a fight the previous day that involved the man who died.
The ruling, handed down Friday, agreed that the state law regarding self-defense left open some questions, but said that was not enough to grant a new trial.
Furgal, 26, was convicted in February 2011 of stabbing Christopher Vydfol at a Nov. 25, 2009, house party and sentenced to at least 32 years in prison for second-degree murder. At the trial, Furgal argued that he stabbed Vydfol, 20, in self-defense, attempting to hold off a group of party guests.
Furgal was leaving the party when the stabbing took place, after a confrontation in which he was accused of stealing an iPod.
Furgal’s lawyers wanted to tell the jury about a fight involving Vydfol at the same address, 157 Bedford Road, on the previous day, to bolster their argument about why Furgal was fearful of him. But Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Diane Nicolosi rejected the argument because “the prior incident involved different people and ...![]()
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