The Mayfield man facing four charges of capital murder has pleaded not guilty today in Calloway County Circuit Court.
Commonwealth Attorney Mark Blankenship says he’ll likely seek the death penalty for 21-year-old Pascasio Pacheco, which could make it the first case in close to a century.
Pacheco is accused of the November 17 shooting deaths of his aunt and uncle, Marisol Hernandez-Arellano, 24, and Bulmaro Arellano, 29, then setting fire to their home on KY 121 south of Murray, killing their two small children, aged 5 and 1.
Kentucky State Police arrested Pacheco November 23.
Blankenship says this could be the first death penalty case in the county in close to 100 years.
"It could go back to the Lube Martin case," said Blankenship. "That was near the turn of the century, I think. I've been leaving in this community since the fifties, went to high school here, and there's never been a death penalty case in Calloway and Marshall since I've been alive."
No trial date has been set.
Blankenship says due to the large amount of evidence needed to be processed and turned over for discovery, it’s likely a trial won’t take place until next year.
