He was arrested at his home on Old House Lane, three doors down from the Dutch Colonial the Clintons bought in 1999.
Peggy Perez-Olivo, 55, was shot in the head as she and her husband were driving from Manhattan toward their home in Chappaqua, about 35 miles north. The teacher's assistant at a Chappaqua school died two days later.
Prosecutor Perry Perrone, who argued against bail for Carlos Perez-Olivo, called the killing "a cold-blooded, well-planned execution" and said there was a "compelling circumstantial case, a compelling forensic case" against him.
"All investigative roads led to one person and one person only," Perrone said.
Perez-Olivo's lawyer, Robert Buckley, told Westchester County Judge Jeffrey Cohen that his client "maintains his innocence, as he has all along."
Cohen sent Perez-Olivo to jail pending a Friday court appearance. Buckley told the judge there had been threats against his client and requested protective custody.
Outside court, Buckley said his client had enemies and believes the shooting "was aimed at him."
He quoted Perez-Olivo as saying, "The person that did this to me has put me in hell, and these people are keeping me there."
Carlos Perez-Olivo was shot in the abdomen. He said the shots were fired by a man who cut off their sport utility vehicle on a dark road, then climbed into the vehicle and shot both of them.
The road they were on, Route 100 in Millwood, would not normally be part of the route home, but Perez-Olivo told police they had detoured to find a gas station. He said that despite his own wound, he was able to drive to Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco after the shooting.
Perez-Olivo was questioned for hours at his home and at police stations in ensuing days. Police released a sketch based on his description of the gunman, but one investigator described his account as "unusual sounding."
One night, as Perez-Olivo left county police headquarters, he shoved a reporter who asked him whether he had killed his wife.
The killing had no apparent effect on security at the Clintons' house, which served as a launching pad for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. Bill Clinton took up permanent residence there when he left the White House in 2001.
Telephone calls seeking comment from the former president and the Democratic presidential hopeful on Thursday were not immediately returned.
Last month, the Hartford Life Insurance Co. filed a federal lawsuit asking that a judge decide who should get the proceeds of two life insurance policies, totaling $467,000, on Peggy Perez-Olivo. The policies named Carlos Perez-Olivo as beneficiary and he had submitted a claim.
Perez-Olivo was disbarred last year for refusing to return unearned funds to clients.
