NASHUA, N.H. (AP) – A former Hudson man already in prison on a murder conviction has been acquitted of charges he raped his daughter before he killed her mother.

Jurors acquitted John Little on Thursday. He now will become eligible for parole. He was not eligible as long as he faced the rape charge.

Little, 65, is serving 36 years to life for the 1981 murder of his wife, Deborah. Little stabbed her to death in their kitchen after she told him she wanted a divorce.

Little’s first trial on the charge ended in a mistrial earlier this year. His lawyers argued Little’s daughter made up the abuse in hopes of keeping her father in prison.

His daughter testified her father had warned her she would lose her mother if she told anyone about the abuse.

She told no one about the abuse until 1996 when her father attempted to get his sentence suspended. She repeated the allegations when he sought parole two years ago.

Little’s daughter and other family members wept as the verdict was announced.