A Schenectady man was convicted of murder last week in connection for killing a man on New Year’s Day 2022.

Christopher Smith-Wadsworth, 32, was found guilty of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the death of Sutlesh Girdharry, 24.

It happened amid a fight at a New Year’s party on Curry Road in Rotterdam. A group people who had left the party after an argument, returned in one car, said prosecutors, and brought with them other people in a second car.

Smith-Wadsworth used a knife to stab Girdharry, who was unarmed, multiple times. Girdharry died from his injuries.

Smith-Wadsworth had been free on bail but was taken into custody upon the jury’s verdict.

He faces up of 25 years to life in prison when sentenced on June 25.

Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney credited the work of his office in overcoming obstacles, including lack of cooperation from people at the party who could identify Smith-Wadsworth.

Smith-Wadsworth’s attorney offered a justification of self-defense, which Carney said the jury did not find credible.

“In the end, the jury concluded that Smith-Wadsworth had brought a knife to a fistfight with an unarmed man and delivered a sequence of lethal plunging stab wounds to Mr. Girdharry’s forearm then his neck, both of which severed arteries, and were not way justifiable under the circumstances and proved that his intent was to kill,” he said in a statement.