Callender Found Guilty Of Second Degree Murder

A New Bedford man has been found guilty of killing a man in a fight outside a Fairhaven VFW post six years ago.

The Bristol County district attorney's office says jurors convicted 24-year-old Brandon Callender of second-degree murder on Friday for the fatal stabbing of 30-year-old Joshua Fitzgerald. They had deliberated for 25 hours over five days in Fall River Superior Court.

Callender also was convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for stabbing Fitzgerald's brother, Patrick Fitzgerald, but was acquitted of armed assault with intent to murder in that attack.

The stabbings occurred during a melee outside the Fairhaven VFW on April 4, 2008, after a party.

Callender will be sentenced April 18.

A co-defendant was convicted of manslaughter in 2010.