A Mexico Missouri defendant has been cleared of charges that he stabbed a Hannibal man at a holiday party.

A Pike County jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before acquitting Nathaniel Beauchamp. The case was moved to Bowling Green from Paris on a change of venue.

Beauchamp was charged with felony assault and armed criminal action in the wounding of a Hannibal man at a New Year’s party in Monroe City on January 1st of 2013.

Beauchamp told police he was being intimidated by at least 20 men and used a pocket knife in self-defense to stab an assailant. The victim had a wound to the left side near his stomach.