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Nebraska man convicted of strangling death of wife in Iowa

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June 15th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in northwest Iowa for the death of his estranged wife. A Woodbury County jury was in its second day of deliberation when it found 29-year-old Rogelio Morales, of Hubbard, Nebraska, guilty Thursday afternoon.

Prosecutors say he killed 21-year-old Margarita Morales on April 19, 2015, in his car near a Sioux City residence. Court documents say Morales told investigators a fight broke out when his wife told him she no longer wanted to be in a relationship and that she was seeing another man. Defense attorney Mike Williams said in his closing arguments that there’s no doubt Morales killed the woman but said Morales “is guilty of voluntary manslaughter, not murder.”