Bainbridge preacher to be re-sentenced in May for wife's murder

Bainbridge preacher to be re-sentenced in May for wife's murder

Nicholas Hacheney

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Story Published: Mar 9, 2008 at 9:28 AM PDT

Story Updated: Mar 9, 2008 at 9:28 AM PDT

By KOMO Staff & News Services

KITSAP COUNTY - A former preacher on Bainbridge Island who got a life sentence for drugging his wife, killing her and then setting a fire to cover up the crime will be re-sentenced May 30 after the state Supreme Court ruled that there were no aggravating circumstances in the murder.

Nicholas Hacheney, 37, now faces a possible sentence of 20 to 26 years for first-degree murder. The sentencing is set for 1:30 p.m. in Kitsap County Superior Court, according to an attorney familiar with the case.

Hacheney previously received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole after being convicted of aggravated first-degree murder in 2002.

But the state Supreme Court in May 2007 vacated the life sentence after ruling that the fire was set after the murder, so it could not be an aggravating circumstance during the commission of the murder.

The standard sentencing range for first-degree murder is 20 to 26 years in prison.

He was convicted of drugging his wife, Dawn, then strangling her and setting the couple's East Bremerton apartment ablaze to cover his tracks.

In 1997, the death was ruled as accidental in the fire. But the case was reopened four years later when Sandra Glass - a member of the church and Nicholas Hacheney's former lover - told police he had admitted to drugging and strangling his wife before setting the fire.

The murder is the subject of a nonfiction book being written by best-selling Northwest crime author Gregg Olsen.

The Kitsap Sun, a news partner of KOMO-TV, contributed to this report.

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