An Alliance man has been found guilty of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of using a weapon to commit a felony.
A six-man and six-woman jury deliberated the case of 26-year-old Dominick Dubray for two-and-a-half hours Monday afternoon before returning the verdict.
Dubray was convicted of stabbing to death 22-year-old Cathy Chavez of Alliance and her step-father, 42-year-old Michael Loutzenhiser of Scottsbluff, who were found dead in Dubray’s home near Eighth and Flack in Alliance during the early morning of February 11, 2012.
The trial began October 9 in Box Butte County District Court in Alliance.
During closing arguments Monday morning, Matt Lierman of the Nebraska Attorney General’s office, the lead prosecutor for the state, described the case as an act of rage that erupted from a domestic dispute between Dubray and Chevez, who had a child together.
Lierman stated that Dubray savagely stabbed Chevez 19 times and Loutzenhiser 22 times. He told the jury that Dubray grabbed a kitchen knife with a six-and-a-half inch blade and lunged it into his victims with such force that their wounds were up to eight inches deep.
Lierman also stated that Dubray’s knife wounds were self inflicted, and that he told friends shortly after the incident that he wanted to die and not go to prison.
Dubray was transported to a Denver hospital where he recovered from his wounds.
Defense counsel Thomas Sonntag of Scottsbluff told the jury that Dubray was acting in self defense. He stated that Dubray had been stabbed in the abdomen, neck and chest and was fighting back.
Dubray was the recipient of 17 stab wounds, which prosecutors say were self-inflicted and, for the most part, superficial.
The trio had been consuming alcohol prior to the deaths of Chavez and Loutzenhiser. Sonntag said the deceased parties had blood alcohol levels of roughly twice the legal limit and that Dubray’s was nearly three times that of the legal limit.
District Court Judge Travis O’Gorman set sentencing for Monday, December 10, at 9 a.m.
Dubray will remain in custody in the Box Butte County Jail.