A 25-year-old man was convicted Friday in Circuit Court of second-degree murder in the 2019 stabbing death of a family friend, 45-year-old Isaac J. Lee, at the Wahiawa apartment of the defendant’s mother.

Kai Dela Cruz faces life in prison with the possibility of parole when Judge Shanlyn Park sentences him July 16.

The jury found Dela Cruz guilty as charged of second- degree murder.

Dela Cruz’s mother, Jossette Sedeno, with whom he lived, was the state’s key witness at trial.

She told police Dela Cruz stabbed Lee, who she found on the balcony with stab wounds, bleeding profusely from his arms and chest, court records show.

Sedeno told the patrol officer that at about 6:15 p.m. Nov. 19, 2019, Dela Cruz and Lee, a family friend, were on the balcony just outside her bedroom at 302 Ohai Place while she was in her bedroom watching TV.

Sedeno said she initially heard screaming from the balcony, and that Dela Cruz ran through her bedroom and stopped at the front door.

When she asked her son what happened, he responded, “Ask him.”

“Evidence presented during the trial showed the defendant was smoking methamphetamine before he killed the victim by stabbing him repeatedly,” said Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm.

“Drug use continues to be a factor in crimes committed in Hawaii. It is important we continue to highlight the dangers associated with drug use and continue to prosecute those who promote illegal drugs or use drugs and harm others.”

Dela Cruz, who was 21, at the time of the stabbing, used a sharp object to stab Lee.

Sedeno told police that she helped Lee to the living room and yelled for help. A neighbor called police.

Lee was taken in critical condition to The Queen’s Medical Center, where he died at 7:50 p.m.

In the meantime, Dela Cruz had fled in his mother’s vehicle.

Then at about 9:18 p.m., police found Dela Cruz lying face down on the roadway on Ohai Place.

His mother identified him, and police arrested him.

Dela Cruz was arrested on Oct. 3, 2018, for punching his therapist in the face and causing a laceration to the lip.

The therapist, in filling out a police report form, wrote that Dela Cruz was outside his office naked. He went out and told Dela Cruz to put his clothes on, then returned to his office. When he exited his office, Dela Cruz punched him.

He was convicted and sentenced to six months’ probation, and ordered to have a mental health assessment and treatment.

His criminal history also includes carrying a deadly weapon, petty misdemeanor theft and promoting a dangerous drug.