Christopher Heenan has been found guilty of the 2007 murder of Raukawa Newton in Rotorua.
A jury in the High Court at Rotorua took about three hours to reach its guilty verdict today, after a retrial lasting almost two weeks.
It was the Crown's case Heenan, now 54, had been drinking at his home with Mr Newton on the evening of October 11, 2007.
Heenan became angry when Mr Newton, who suffered from bipolar disorder, began "conjuring up gods".
He approached Mr Newton from behind and stabbed him with either a large carving knife, a Leatherman tool or both. Mr Newton's aorta was severed and he died within minutes.
Heenan had six superficial wounds to his abdomen and one to his arm, which the Crown said were self-inflicted in an attempt to make it look like Heenan had acted in self-defence.
