A 31-year-old man will be sentenced to a life in prison with the possibility of parole for the stabbing murder of a former sumo wrestler who was his longtime friend.

Kealiiokalani Meheula showed no emotion yesterday when he heard that the Circuit Court jury rejected his claim of self defense and found him guilty of the second-degree murder of Percy Kipapa, a Castle High School classmate.

Kipapa's father said he found closure with the verdict, but no happiness.

"I'm sorry that he'll have to spend the rest of his life in a place that he shouldn't be over there," he said about Meheula.

The jury deliberated for about a day before also rejecting a conviction on a lesser offense of manslaughter.

Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto scheduled the sentencing for Sept. 6 when Meheula will be sentenced to the mandatory term of life with parole.

The judge also granted a request by the prosecution to hold Meheula without bail in view of the verdict.

Meheula had been free on $150,000 bail. He was escorted from the courtroom that was full of relatives and friends of both the victim and the defendant.

Meheula's family wept as he was taken away.

Willie Domingo, Meheula's lawyer, said they will be looking at an appeal.

He said his client had a message for Kipapa's family that he's sorry for what happened to the man he feels was his friend. "That's the way he'll always feel about him," Domingo said.

During the trial, Meheula testified that he stabbed his friend multiple times in a pickup truck in Kahalu'u May 16 last year because Kipapa was choking him. Meheula said he thought he was going to die.

Meheula denied smoking crystal methamphetamine, but said his friend was smoking ice, which was detected during an autopsy.

However, city Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Kim said Meheula was also smoking ice, based on his appearance following the stabbing and statements he made to firefighters who arrived on the scene that he had smoked ice.

"This was a blitz attack on an unarmed man," Kim said.

Kim said a key factor for the jury may have been Meheula's testimony accounting for each of the stab wounds to Kipapa's torso, hands and thigh. The testimony suggested that the defendant was fabricating a story to match the evidence, Kim said.

"You would think if you're being strangled to death and you're in a traumatic life threatening situation, you wouldn't think you would remember every significant wound," Kim said.

Kim said during the trial, two prosecution witnesses testified Meheula admitted to the stabbing, saying Kipapa had taken stuff from him and had been fooling around with Meheula's girlfriend.

The deputy prosecutor said he was "extremely pleased" for the victim's parents and family, whom he described as "really good people." Kipapa, Kim said, was also "just a sweetheart of a guy."

Kipapa was a sumo wrestler in Japan for about six years.

Kipapa's father said he was happy for his son's career. He said the son shared his love with the public, not only in Hawai'i, but in Japan. "He was just a lovable boy," the father said.

But the father said he holds no grudges.

"We never had no vengeance against the family or nobody because it was something that took place between him (Meheula) and my son, but my son is not here to say (his side) of the story ... But I'm glad the case is over."

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.