OPELOUSAS — A St. Landry Parish jury has found an Opelousas man guilty of first-degree murder in the 1988 stabbing death of 29-year-old Brenda Dupont.

Media outlets report that 45-year-old Joenell Rubin’s DNA was matched in 2012 to semen found on Dupont when investigators discovered her body years earlier in her apartment.

The conviction follows two days of testimony in which Prosecutor Don Richard argued that Rubin had raped Dupont before stabbing her to death. Criminal pathologist Christopher Tate testified that Dupont had been stabbed 31 times.

Rubin had told Detective Dwain Grimmett he hadn’t known Dupont or visited her apartment.

Defense lawyer Roy Richard argued that the only thing prosecutors proved was that Rubin had sex with Dupont sometime before her murder.

Rubin will be sentenced Feb. 18. Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty.

New West Feliciana Parish hospital

ST. FRANCISVILLE — Construction has started on the $27.7 million West Feliciana Parish Hospital in St. Francisville.

Media outlets report that the hospital is expected to be completed in spring 2017. The 19-acre medical campus will feature a 53,000-square-foot facility it its centerpiece.

CEO Lee Chasant says the hospital will offer 12 in-patient rooms with bathrooms and private courtyard views. He says it will have unique amenities as well with separate inpatient, ER and outpatient admitting areas, conference and classrooms, private family consulting areas, a non-denominational chapel and an upgraded cafeteria.

The project is funded with a $17.75 million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan, $8 million in bridge funding from Investar Bank and $2 million in hospital reserves.

Work is already underway on a road project that connects the entire medical campus.

Houma man accused of felony tax evasion

BATON ROUGE — State officials say a Houma man faces multiple felony charges for failing to report and pay state income taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.

The Louisiana Department of Revenue said in a news release Vincent J. Malbrough Jr. is accused of failing to file Louisiana resident income tax returns for the tax years 2009 through 2013. During those years, the state says he failed to report $251,450 in income and he owes an estimated $23,789 in taxes.

Malbrough was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on Wednesday on charges of criminal penalty for evasion of fax and penalty for failure to file.

He was released on a $3,500 bond Thursday morning.

Online jail records did not list an attorney for him.