Farmer to be tried in shooting death
By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer
A Kahuku farmer shouldn't be prosecuted on a murder charge because the victim died from shotgun pellets that hit him in the legs and thigh and not on the head or chest, a defense attorney argued yesterday.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Khamxath Baccam also shouldn't be held accountable for not getting medical help because it wouldn't have helped the man, who bled to death within two or three minutes of the shooting, defense attorney Todd Eddins said. The man's body was found after the shooting on Malaekahana Valley Road
Khamxath Baccam greets fellow farmers from Kahuku there to support him as he arrives in court for his preliminary hearing in the death of Marcelino Pacheco. He was ordered to stand trial on a murder charge, but his attorney calls the shooting "clearly" self-defense.
But in the first court test of the prosecution's murder case, city deputy prosecutor Barry Kemp argued that the evidence supported the charge. Part-time Honolulu District Judge Peter Stone agreed. He ordered Baccam to stand trial on the murder charge and a companion count of using a shotgun to commit the killing.
Baccam, 48, a Wahiawa resident who farms 13 acres of leased land in Kahuku, is accused of killing Marcelino Pacheco Jr., 38, whose body was found on the road the morning of Sept. 7. He is charged with killing Pacheco by either firing the fatal shot or not getting him the medical help to save his life.
Baccam surrendered and told police that he shot and killed a man.
The shooting generated attention among Kahuku farmers and others as a dramatic response in the widespread problem with farm thefts. About $1 million is lost because of vandalism and agricultural theft each year, a Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation official has said.
Baccam, who is free on $25,000 bail, referred questions to his attorney. After the hearing, Eddins said the case was clearly one of self-defense. "He was protecting himself against a thief who was amped up on ice," Eddins said. "He thought he was going to die."
Yesterday's hearing drew about 20 farmers and others who watched from the gallery to support Baccam. "We tried to raise the funds to help him in this case," said Zeune Baccam, who lived with his cousin in Laos before both immigrated to the United States.
Zeune Baccam, a Mililani farmer, said he believes his cousin acted in self-defense and believes that even more so after hearing the testimony at yesterday's hearing.
According to court records, Pacheco had a history of crystal methamphetamine use, and police said they suspected him of stealing from Kahuku farms to feed his drug habit.
His body was found with wounds from seven buckshot pellets fired from at least nine feet away that entered his thigh and around the knees from the front, according to yesterday's testimony.
William Goodhue, a deputy city medical examiner, testified that Pacheco bled to death when a pellet tore the femoral artery in his left thigh. Goodhue said Pacheco had methamphetamine in his system, which increased his heart rate and blood circulation and contributed to the bleeding.
Goodhue said it was "very likely" Pacheco would have died within two or three minutes without highly-specialized medical help.
Police Det. Clifford Rubio testified that Pacheco's body was found with a knapsack that contained latex gloves, screwdrivers and bolt cutters, items that could be used for thefts or car break-ins.
Wade Souza, a retired police sergeant who works at the Wahiawa police station as a civilian employee, testified that Khamxath Baccam was very cooperative when he showed up to say he wanted to surrender. Souza said Baccam told him he had "shot and killed a man with a shotgun" and had felt bad all night long.
At preliminary hearings, felony cases routinely get sent to circuit court for trial because a judge need only find "probable cause" that a "reasonable" person could conclude from the evidence that the defendant probably committed the crime.
But in arguing for a dismissal of the murder charge, Eddins said Pacheco was a "thief" who had no business at the dirt road near Baccam's farm and that any help the farmer could have provided wouldn't have saved the wounded Pacheco's life.
Kemp, however, noted that the Kahuku police station was two miles away and Kahuku Hospital two to three miles away. Kemp also said Baccam had a duty to get help because he shot Pacheco.
Baccam is scheduled to be arraigned in Circuit Court on Oct. 25, when he is expected to plead not guilty and get a trial date.
Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
