"Mr. Baccam is a hard-working, sunup-to-sundown farmer who faced a terrifying encounter and felt the need to protect himself," Todd Eddins, Baccam's attorney, said after Baccam's initial appearance in District Court.

The fatal shooting left many Kahuku farmers shaken and served as a violent example of what they said is a continuing problem with farm thefts.

On Sunday, about 250 Kahuku farmers met to push for solutions and to form an alliance with police, legislators and statewide farm groups.

A Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation official has said agricultural theft and the vandalism that often accompanies it amount to losses of about $1 million a year statewide. Because police do not keep statistics on farm theft, there is no way to verify that estimate.

After yesterday's hearing, Eddins would not discuss the specifics of what happened between Baccam and Pacheco during the confrontation. He said the shotgun was registered to Baccam. Police have not found the firearm.

Baccam, an American citizen, is a "political refugee" who fled Laos in 1975 and first settled in Iowa before moving to Hawai'i in the late 1980s, Eddins said.

Police have said that Baccam walked into the Wahiawa Police Station about five hours after Pacheco's body was found and confessed to the shooting.

Police said Baccam told them that the night before the body was found, he was driving toward a storage shack and saw a man run from the shed carrying a sack. Baccam told police he turned his van around and headed down the road toward where he saw the man running.

Baccam told police that he stopped when he found the bag lying in the road, that he found his equipment and produce in the bag, and that Pacheco appeared from the side of the road and threatened him. Police suspected that Pacheco was stealing from Kahuku farmers to support a crystal methamphetamine habit.

Baccam, who reportedly told Wahiawa police officers the day after the shooting that he felt bothered by it "all night long," was charged with murder by omission as well as murder by commission.

A charge of murder by omission is brought in cases where a defendant knows that someone has been badly injured and could die from those injuries but fails to seek help for the injured person.

District Judge Paula Devens allowed Baccam's bail to remain at $25,000 and set a preliminary hearing date of Oct. 12 to determine if Baccam should be turned over to Circuit Court for trial.

An indictment of Baccam by an O'ahu grand jury before Oct. 12 could pre-empt the preliminary hearing.

Baccam did not talk during the three-minute proceeding.