A Spokane County jury ruled Tuesday that a man who stabbed another man to death last May in Spokane Valley was guilty of second-degree murder.

The jury rejected a first-degree murder charge against 24-year-old Lance A. Leighton.

Leighton claimed he stabbed Jeffrey P. Bieber in self-defense and didn’t intend to kill him.

The incident occurred outside a home at 612 N. Farr Road. Leighton had been drinking there with Amanda Lloyd, Joe Legendre and Katherine Collins. Testimony indicated Legendre had a romantic interest in Collins and became jealous when she started to leave with Bieber and another man.

Defense attorney Bevan Maxey said Collins called Bieber and Michael R. Priestly to the home in hopes of selling them a portable scale.

Witnesses said Bieber drove up with Priestly, and Legendre confronted Bieber. Legendre brandished a BB gun that looked like a real pistol.

Maxey said Leighton approached Bieber in an attempt to make peace, but Bieber reached for a realistic-looking squirt gun and Leighton stabbed him.

Superior Court Judge Greg Sypolt didn’t immediately set a sentencing date. Maxey estimated that, with an enhancement for use of a deadly weapon, Leighton faces a standard range of 13 to 20 years in prison.