Court documents filed by police allege a small arsenal was found at the home of a 32-year-old Volcano man accused of the fatal shooting Monday of a neighbor.
According to an affidavit, a search warrant executed on the Nau Nani Road residence of Daris Paul Pacheco turned up a Taurus .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, a Taurus .45 caliber revolver, a Marlin .22 caliber long rifle and a 12-gauge Mossberg pump-action shotgun.
All the firearms were loaded, and there were additional shotgun shells and .45 caliber ammo rounds at the home, according to the document.
Pacheco is charged with second-degree murder for shooting a neighbor, 59-year-old Jay Allen Freeman, in the driveway of Freeman’s Nau Nani Road home in Aloha Estates subdivision.
Pacheco also is charged with carrying a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, burglary of a dwelling during an emergency, first-degree terroristic threatening, five counts of prohibited possession of a firearm or ammunition, illegally carrying a firearm, methamphetamine and marijuana possession, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Neighbors who witnessed the shooting — described in court Thursday by Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Son as “an execution in daytime” — said Pacheco shot Freeman once in the chest from about 5 feet away with a silver handgun, according to documents.
One neighbor allegedly told police Freeman tried to get up, reached for his chest and fell back down, motionless. One of the neighbors reported to police she saw Pacheco jump over Freeman’s fence to enter his property.
Documents state Pacheco was prohibited from owning or possessing firearms or ammunition according to the terms of a deferred acceptance of a no contest plea in a family court case. He also was ordered to surrender any firearms and ammunition he had to police.
Pacheco was originally charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse of an adult woman in that case, but pleaded to a petty misdemeanor harassment charge, court records state.
According to documents, Freeman called police prior to being shot, saying he saw Pacheco standing in front of his home and appeared to be carrying a rifle.
A woman identified as Freeman’s girlfriend told officers that as she drove by Pacheco’s residence, she saw him standing on the road and aiming what appeared to be a small-caliber brown rifle at her, documents state. The woman reportedly said she immediately contacted Freeman, who told her he was looking at Pacheco, who was standing with a rifle at the front gate of their home.
Freeman’s girlfriend is identified in the complaint as the terroristic threatening victim.
After police responded to a 12:37 p.m. call Monday about the shooting, officers found a smartphone on Freeman’s property which police say contained a video of Pacheco at the gate holding what appeared to be a black pump-action shotgun, documents state. A date-and-time stamp on the video indicates it was taken at 10:48 a.m. Monday, according to documents.
Pacheco asked for a lawyer after being arrested and made no statements to police, according to documents — which didn’t contain a motive for the shooting.
At Pacheco’s initial court appearance Thursday, Son filed a motion to have Pacheco held without bail, which Son asked Hilo District Judge Kanani Laubach to hear immediately.
Pacheco’s newly court-appointed lawyer, Stanton Oshiro, objected and asked for at least 48 hours before a hearing on such a motion, saying he was “given absolutely no opportunity to respond, whether … in writing or reading the file.”
“There’s references to pre-existing cases. I’m not aware of those other cases. I don’t know who represents Mr. Pacheco in those,” Oshiro said. “So, at a minimum, Judge, I need additional time to prepare for and potentially refute the allegations contained within the motion to hold without bail.”
Oshiro said instead of moving for a bail reduction on Thursday, he would “submit” to the original bail amount of $411,000 for his client.
Son argued “a 48-hour delay would be a concern to public safety.”
“There’s also a possibility of other victims that might be at risk. Although the bail is set at $411,000, it is not enough to protect public safety,” Son told the judge.
Laubach delayed hearing Son’s motion until 2 p.m. Monday, when Pacheco was ordered to return for a preliminary hearing.
She also raised Pacheco’s bail to $2 million, apparently in response to the allegations contained in the documents.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
