A 30-year-old man was found guilty yesterday of murdering his wife's boyfriend by stabbing him twice in the chest with a kitchen knife at a Waipahu apartment last year.

Airino Asarin faces a mandatory life term with the possibility of parole when he is sentenced by Circuit Judge Richard Perkins Dec. 28 for stabbing S.T. Salle, 26, June 15 last year.

Asarin came home to the Waipahu Street apartment about 4 a.m. and found his wife and Salle in the bedroom with the Asarins' four children, according to city Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Kim.

Asarin got the knife from the kitchen and stabbed the victim following a struggle, Kim said.

Asarin's attorney, Frank Fernandez, maintained that his client acted in self-defense during the struggle over the knife. The defense also argued that Asarin was under extreme distress after finding his wife with Salle, which could have led to a conviction on a lesser charge of manslaughter.

The Circuit Court jury took about two hours to deliberate before finding Asarin guilty of the murder charge.