Jury finds guilt
in fatal stabbing

A Circuit Court jury took less than three hours to find a Waipahu man guilty of stabbing to death his estranged wife's boyfriend.

Airino Asarin, 30, was charged with second-degree murder in the June 15, 2004, slaying of S.T. Salle, which he claims was committed while he was under an extreme mental and emotional disturbance.

The defense had claimed that Asarin, who had moved out from the couple's Waipahu apartment about a week before the stabbing, had returned early that morning to find his wife and Salle, 27, in the same room with his four children.

Asarin said he retrieved a knife from the kitchen to confront them and stabbed Salle in self-defense during a struggle over control of the knife.

But when Asarin took the stand Friday, he denied stabbing Salle, said Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Kim. Asarin testified they both fell down the stairs during the struggle, that he blacked out and when he came to, Salle was gone.

Defense attorney Frank Fernandez could not be reached for comment.

The couple had been married about nine years, but a few years earlier, Asarin had acquired a girlfriend and had a child with her, prosecutors said.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins granted a defense request last week to acquit Asarin of second-degree attempted murder for swinging at his wife with the knife. Vivian Asarin had initially told police her husband thrust the knife at her once. But on the stand, she recanted her statement, Kim said.

Asarin will be sentenced Dec. 28. He faces life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.