TROY, Mo. (AP) — An eastern Missouri man once sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife is free after being found not guilty in a retrial.

Russell Faria was found not guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and armed criminal action Friday by Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer, of St. Louis, who heard the case in Lincoln County.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Faria’s 2013 conviction in the stabbing death of his wife, Betsy Faria, was overturned after his attorneys argued the first trial judge should have allowed evidence pointing to a friend of victim as a possible suspect.

Prosecutors said Faria stabbed the victim at their home in Troy in December 2011. The defense offered four alibi witnesses who said Faria was miles away when his wife died.