A former Hawaii Police Department officer imprisoned since fatally shooting his wife in 2002 will spend at least nine more years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole under a new minimum term set by the Hawaii Paroling Authority.
Albert Pacheco, the former Kona detective who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a firearms offense in connection with the Jan. 4, 2002, shooting death of 42-year-old Cathalene Ann “Cathy” Pacheco, will now be eligible for parole on Dec. 27, 2031, a decade earlier than previously set.
Albert Pacheco, now age 66, remains incarcerated at Suguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, where he has been housed since 2007. The new parole date was announced this week following a Nov. 16 hearing before the five-member parole board.
The hearing was held after a Third Circuit Court judge earlier this year approved a petition for post-conviction relief filed in May 2021 by Honolulu Attorney Myles S. Breiner on behalf of Albert Pacheco and financed in part by his eldest daughter.
According to the petition, the court when sentencing Albert Pacheco in 2004 erroneously factored in his police training into the rationale for consecutive sentencing despite there being no evidence in the presentence report to suggest he used “any police tactics, techniques, or training to carry out” the crime other than “unfounded conjecture” in a supplemental memorandum by a probation officer.
Hilo Circuit Court Judge Peter Kubota agreed with the post-conviction relief petition’s argument that Albert Pacheco was unjustly sentenced to consecutive terms of life in prison with a minimum 15 years for second-degree murder and 20 years for carrying or use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, and modified the court’s 2004 sentence to run the terms concurrently, or at the same time.
That change vacated the minimum term set in December 2004 by the parole board that required Albert Pacheco serve 30 years for the murder offense followed by 10 years for the firearms offense making him ineligible for parole until December 2041 at age 85.
Now, under the new minimum term, Albert Pacheco will become eligible to begin the process of being paroled at age 75.
The parole board during its Nov. 16 hearing received input from the prosecution, defense and family members on both sides. No argument was made to increase or decrease the previous minimum term set for the murder offense at 30 years, according to the Department of Public Safety.
“This is what I expected,” said Breiner, who represented Albert Pacheco in his quest for post-conviction relief. “This is precisely what I said (would happen) when I addressed this issue with the media: He was not getting released — all that was occurring was eliminating the consecutive sentence.”
He also noted that December 2031 is when Albert Pacheco can begin to seek parole — not when he will be released.
“It doesn’t mean he’s going to get parole. Most likely what will happen because he’s been in custody for so long, by the time he does reach his eligibility date they’re going to make him go into the furlough program — if it’s available for him and there’s no guarantee given that it’s a murder case and that he was a former officer with Big Island police,” said Breiner, who also noted that his client by that time may be unable to receive medical approval for the program.
As of Thursday, Albert Pacheco has served 7,643 days — or 20 years, 11 months, and four days — since he was arrested in the minutes after the shooting in Waikoloa Village.
“I’d like to thank everyone in the community who wrote letters of support to keep Albert Pacheco incarcerated. This was truly a group effort to keep our Island safe. The people of the Big Island, friends and family really stood up to ensure that Justice was upheld and my mother was not forgotten,” said Shannon Au, Catharine Pacheco’s eldest daughter from a previous relationship, who was not part of the post-conviction relief effort.
According to the 2021 petition, which includes police reports, the Pachecos were having marital issues and living separately at the time of the 2002 incident on Lina Poepoe Street. The fatal shooting came days after Cathalene Pacheco moved out of the couple’s home and shortly after a Jan. 4, 2002, phone call in which Albert Pacheco tried unsuccessfully a last time to convince his wife of 19 years not to leave him.
“He called her on the phone, promising to change and do whatever it took to get her to change her mind. She accused him of being manipulative and hung up the phone mid-conversation,” the petition reads. “That was Mr. Pacheco’s breaking point.”
Albert Pacheco, off-duty at the time, later called his wife back, saying he needed her to watch their younger children. She agreed and headed to the couple’s home on Lina Poepoe Street. According to the petition, Albert Pacheco, who at the time of the shooting was being clinically treated for depression and “reeling from the dissolution of his family,” then retrieved his service pistol and drove to meet his wife.
About a half-mile from their home, Albert Pacheco caught site of Cathalene Pacheco’s van and used his vehicle to ram her van into the curb. He then approached the driver’s side of her vehicle, and began firing the weapon at Cathalene Pacheco who was on the phone with one of her daughters at the time. After the weapon jammed, he cleared it, and resumed firing at his estranged wife.
Once Albert Pacheco realized he had killed his wife, according to the petition, he stopped shooting and summoned police. Upon their arrival he “facilitated” his own arrest, and confessed to the killing.
An autopsy determined Cathalene Pacheco was shot 14 times in the head and chest.