A fatal stabbing in Wahiawa was an act of murder or an act of self-defense, a Circuit Court jury was told yesterday.

Kerry Sanders, 40, went on trial on a charge of murder in the stabbing of Jonathan Nunes, 32, on California Avenue on Nov. 4, 2004.

The prosecution does not have an eyewitness to the actual stabbing, but city Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Takata cited statements Sanders gave to police after his arrest in which he said Nunes "walked into (the knife)."

Nunes was stabbed in his midsection with a kitchen knife.

When police asked if Nunes committed suicide as Sanders held the knife, Sanders replied he didn't know, "but I did not intentionally stab him."

Takata told the jury the stab wound from the 10-inch knife blade was 9.8 inches deep.

In his opening, Sanders' defense lawyer, Keith Shigetomi, said his client acted to protect himself from Nunes, who was 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 320 pounds. Sanders is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds.

Sanders did not attack Nunes, but acted "instinctively" with the knife in his left hand when Nunes threw two punches at Sanders' head, Shigetomi said.

Sanders did not intend to kill Nunes but had "no choice" in reacting the way he did, Shigetomi said.

The stabbing followed a dispute involving Nunes and his wife, Christina, trying to get her mother to leave their apartment. The mother, Linda Ticman, was Sanders' girlfriend.

Takata told the jury he will ask the panel to convict Sanders of murder, while Shigetomi said he will be asking for an acquittal on the charge. The second-degree murder charge carries a mandatory life term with possibility of parole.

Christina Nunes' 2-year-old son, Nathaniel, was killed in a fire at their California Avenue apartment on April 2 this year.

The trial in Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto's courtroom is expected to last about a week.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.