Convicted Kaua‘i murderer, Mitchell Peralto, 45, apologized yesterday in Fifth Circuit Court for his actions in the 1997 death of Kimberly Washington-Cohen. Peralto appeared briefly in Lihu‘e Circuit Court yesterday to be resentenced on the second-degree murder charges. Originally sentenced
Convicted Kaua‘i murderer, Mitchell Peralto, 45, apologized yesterday in Fifth Circuit Court for his actions in the 1997 death of Kimberly Washington-Cohen.
Peralto appeared briefly in Lihu‘e Circuit Court yesterday to be resentenced on the second-degree murder charges. Originally sentenced to life without parole, Peralto was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, but with the possibility of parole.
But there is little chance that Peralto will ever see parole, said county first deputy prosecuting attorney, Craig De Costa.
Clad in a green jumpsuit and sporting a long black ponytail to his waist, Peralto said little until Circuit Court Judge George Masuoka prodded him that this was his last chance to talk before the court.
“I’m just sorry for everything that happened,” said Peralto in a soft voice.
But Masuoka said that it is too late for words.
“I don’t think the court should be compassionate… in the offenses that you and Monica did, especially since it was Monica’s cousin,” said Masuoka. “I understand that it was seven years since the offense, but the court remembers the circumstances of the offense quite clearly.”
Peralto and his wife, Monica Alves Peralto, were originally sentenced in 1998 to life without parole for the second-degree murder of Alves Peralto’s cousin, Washington-Cohen. They were also sentenced for life with parole on kidnapping charges.
But the murder sentence was reversed on appeal in 2001. In 1998, the Fifth Circuit Court, under Judge Masuoka, granted the prosecution’s request for an enhanced sentence. The more severe sentence was based on the fact that the 1997 kidnapping and murder of Kimberly Washington-Cohen was “cruel and heinous.”
In 2001, the state’s highest court sent an enhanced sentence for second-degree murder in the same crime back to Kaua`i for possible resentencing. The Supreme Court said the sentencing should have been held separately from the trial that determined guilt.
Yesterday, Masuoka was asked by defense attorney Daryl Dobashi to give Peralto concurrent sentences, but he refused. Instead, the judge gave consecutive life sentences.
While the mandatory minimum of the cases is ten years, the state Parole Board determined Peralto’s eligibility for parole on the kidnapping charge would be in 75 years, with Peralto able to ask them to reconsider in one-third of the time or, 25 years. He has already served seven years, thus giving him at least 28 more years in jail.
The state board will determine Peralto’s eligibility on the murder charge in four to six months, said De Costa. He said he expects it to be at least as long as the kidnapping charge.
De Costa said that the murder may have been the most heinous in Kaua‘i’s history.
“In my lifetime, this has been the worst murder case. The victim had been subjected to suffocated, beatings, and humiliation before her death,” he said in court yesterday.
The couple were convicted in January of 1998.
There was testimony at the trial that the two killers beat, bound and gagged and eventually buried the victim in a shallow grave. Her corpse was discovered the following day. The Peraltos had accused her of stealing from them.
Alves Peralto, whose sentence was also reversed on appeal, will be resentenced July 7.
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226)
