ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) _ A central Indiana man has been acquitted of murder charges in a fatal stabbing he says happened in self-defense during a fight.
 
Twenty-seven-year-old Adam Layne of Anderson gasped and began to cry as a Madison County judge announced the jury's verdict Thursday. Layne had been jailed for more than eight months since his arrest in the December death of 23-year-old Willie Rumph.
 
The Herald Bulletin reports Layne and defense attorney Jimmy McDole maintained he stabbed Rumph to protect himself and his family after Rumph forced his way into their home and demanded drug money owed him by one of Layne's relatives.
 
Rumph drove himself to a nearby hospital after the stabbing, but died during surgery a few hours later.