A Honolulu hip-hop dancer on Wednesday recanted his police confession that he fatally stabbed a friend in a stairwell at Ala Moana Center.
Jacob Le, 28, testified in Circuit Court that that he confessed and demonstrated the crime to police because detectives confused and pressured him.
Le is on trial for the Oct. 3, 2012, stabbing death of 23-year-old Brent Keolaokalani “Ola” Kanae.
This is the second time Le has stood trial for Kanae’s murder. His first trial in 2013 ended with the jurors deadlocked 11-1 for conviction.
Le did not testify in that first trial and left it up to his lawyer to tell the jurors that he had been tricked into confessing.
Police say Le confessed and showed them how he put his right hand on Kanae’s right shoulder from behind, then reached around with his left hand to thrust a knife three times into Kanae’s chest while his friend was talking on the telephone.
Kanae bled to death after suffering three wounds to the chest that punctured his heart, a lung and an artery.
Le testified Wednesday that he made up the confession and demonstration.
“I was just so confused,” he said. “My mind just went blank and this just came out.”
Le said he learned how many times Kanae had been stabbed through social media and came up with the demonstration to appease the detectives.
Le said his police interview started off cordially. But as the interview continued, he said police confronted him with incriminating statements he allegedly told friends about the murder and a statement from a witness who put him near the stairwell.
“My head was just crammed with this information,” Le said.
He also said the detectives intimidated him and started putting more pressure on him.
When homicide detectives picked him up for the interview, Le said, he hadn’t eaten any food since the day before and had slept only a few hours.
A passer-by found Kanae in a second-level stairwell near Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., where Kanae worked as a line cook. An ambulance transported Kanae to the Queen’s Medical Center, where he later died.
The following day, Le performed a tribute dance for his friend at a celebration of life at a Waikiki nightclub, but friends said Le was more focused on his ex-girlfriend than on his tribute to Kanae.
Le and Kanae were members of the hip-hop dance group Dance Floor Assassins.
