Re-sentencing of Defendant Mitchell Peralto for 1997 Kidnapping and Murder of Kimberly Washington-Cohen
Earlier today, Fifth Circuit Court Judge Kathleen N.A. Watanabe re-sentenced Defendant Mitchell Peralto for his 1998 convictions for the murder and kidnapping of 23-year-old Kimberly Washington-Cohen. Peralto was re-sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping; and life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for murder. The terms of imprisonment were ordered to be served consecutively – one after the other, rather than at the same time.
In 1997, Mitchell Peralto and his ex-wife, Monica Alves Peralto, suffocated Kimberly to death because they believed she was working as a police informant and that she had stolen some of Monica’s clothing. They committed a prolonged attack on Kimberly, bound and gagged her, and abducted her from a residence in Wailua Houselots. They tied blankets and plastic bags over her head, causing her to suffocate to death. Her dead body was found the next day, buried in a shallow grave at the end of a dirt road not far from the residence from which she was abducted. Peralto was on felony probation at the time.
Judge Watanabe noted that she did not take lightly that Peralto’s crimes were heinous, atrocious, manifesting exceptional depravity; and that the evidence showed that Kimberly suffered a beating, slow torture, and suffocation.
Prosecuting Attorney Rebecca Like argued at the re-sentencing hearing that the longer consecutive sentencing was warranted given the nature and circumstances of Peralto’s crimes; his prior criminal history; and the need for the sentence imposed to reflect the seriousness of the offenses and to provide just punishment for the offenses. She argued that no sentence can come close to repairing the multi-generational harm Kimberly’s family has experienced because of Defendant’s and Monica’s actions. Rick Burrell, Kimberly’s brother, urged the court to consider the multi-generational impact of these crimes. At the time of the murder and kidnapping, Kimberly and the Peraltos had young children.
The re-sentencing hearing today was made necessary by a 2018 Hawai‘i Supreme Court decision in an unrelated case. Peralto is currently imprisoned at the Saguaro Correctional Facility in Eloy, Arizona; he participated in today’s re-sentencing hearing via video conference. He was represented today by attorney Emmanuel G. Guerrero. Monica is currently imprisoned at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua. She was re-sentenced in 2021 by Chief Judge Randal G.B. Valenciano to the same imprisonment terms that Peralto was sentenced to today.
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