Jurors needed barely two hours to reject a 54-year-old man's contention that he was acting in self-defense when he fatally stabbed his wife more than 65 times a year ago at their Brooklyn Park home, at one point coming at her from behind and slitting her throat.

Prince Oliver Moore Jr. was found guilty Monday in Hennepin County District Court of first-degree murder in the death of Mauryn Moore, 39, in their apartment on the 8100 block of Zane Avenue N. He will be sentenced Thursday to the mandatory term of life in prison.

Assistant County Attorney Liz Cutter told jurors in her closing argument Monday morning that many of Prince Moore's stabbings were to his wife's hands and arms as she tried to defend herself on the night of Sept. 13, 2011.

"She was no danger to him," Cutter said. "She was no danger to anyone else."

After dozens of stab wounds to her face and chest, she was on her hands and knees when he came up from behind and slit her throat, which finally killed her, although he continued to stab her in the back, Cutter told the jurors.

"This was a vicious murder," she added.

Moore called police that night, and when they arrived they found blood everywhere in their bedroom and bloody footprints where he had walked in the apartment. In the bedroom, police found a large knife, with the tip of it broken off in Mauryn Moore's back, and a smaller knife.

Prince Moore told investigators he was sleeping in bed when his wife started stabbing him with the smaller knife. He had minor stab wounds to his neck and chest.

Prince Moore had sung in the choir at United Christian Fellowship in Minneapolis and was on its building committee. The congregation consists mainly of people from Liberia. Prince Moore immigrated to the United States in the mid-1990s.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482