Prosecutors on Monday upgraded charges from manslaughter to second-degree murder in the case against the man accused of fatally stabbing a 26-year-old Lincoln man in July.Â
Steven Alexander, 35 of Lincoln, had been nearing a February trial date when the Lancaster County Attorney's Office filed the amended charge.
By Nebraska law, second-degree murder involves the intentional but unplanned death of a person. Whereas manslaughter is a killing without malice upon a sudden quarrel or an unintentional killing during the commission of a crime.
Alexander is expected to plead not guilty at his arraignment in February. If convicted, he would face 20 years to life in prison on the murder charge and up to 50 years more for use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony.
At a press conference in July, police said Alexander and Austin Gress had been in a fight near the A’s Stop and Shop at 27th and Dudley streets on the night of July 1.
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In court records, an officer said surveillance footage showed Alexander running toward Gress with a knife in his hand, followed by a physical fight and Alexander allegedly stabbing Gress two to three times in the upper chest and neck area.
Gress' father, who had been across the street waiting to cross on his bike, told police he lost track of his son, who was riding circles around the building waiting for him.
When he got around the store, he saw his son being stabbed.
He told police he ran after the man, allegedly Alexander, but he got away.
Gress collapsed on the north side of the convenience store, where he died.
Police arrested Alexander three days later.
Gress, who was born in Nebraska City and raised in Union, worked in construction, according to his obituary.