Posted on: Thursday, July 1, 2004

Ex-Big Island detective pleads guilty to murder

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Former Kona police detective Albert Pacheco has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for repeatedly shooting his wife in the head and neck in 2001.

Deputy Prosecutor Michael Udovic said he "absolutely" will seek consecutive sentences for Pacheco, 48, which could result in a sentence of up to life in prison plus an additional 20 years for a separate firearms conviction.

At minimum, Pacheco faces a mandatory life sentence with possibility of parole for murder.

Pacheco was off duty and driving his county-subsidized car when he rammed it into his wife's van in Waikoloa on Jan 4, 2002. He then shot Cathalene Pacheco repeatedly.

Cathalene Pacheco's friends said after the killing that her husband abused her, and that she feared him so much that she had moved out of the house.

Udovic said a harsh consecutive sentence is appropriate "because of the nature of the killing, and the fact that he chased her and ran her off the road, and the number of times he shot her." Udovic said Cathalene Pacheco was shot 13 or 14 times.

Udovic said he will seek a mandatory minimum term of 15 years for the killing, but "chances are with a murder case like this, his release date's going to be many, many, many, many years down the road."

Defendants in recent murder cases handled by Big Island prosecutors drew 40-year minimum terms from the Hawai'i Paroling Authority, he said.

The Pacheco murder case had been scheduled to go to trial next week, but instead Pacheco accepted a plea agreement Tuesday.

Under terms of the agreement, Pacheco pleaded guilty to the murder charge, and using a firearm in the commission of a felony, which carries a sentence of 20 years in prison.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop their contention that the murder was particularly "cruel and heinous," which would have opened Pacheco to a potential life prison sentence without possibility of parole.

Police have testified previously that Pacheco admitted the slaying. "I've always taken the position in this case all along that he should plead guilty to murder, quite frankly," Udovic said. "They talked about other things, but I refused to do it. It was either take a murder conviction or go to trial, period."

Cathalene Pacheco, a mother of five and a grandmother, was an agent for the Clark Realty Corp. Her children have filed a lawsuit against the police department, claiming that officials ignored signs that Albert Pacheco was headed for a meltdown.

Reach Kevin Dayton at 935-3916 or at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.