Weird Sunday
Republicans won't appeal decision in Washington state governor's election lawsuit

Mark Hacking sentenced for murdering his wife

He was sentenced to 6 years to life in prison for shooting Lori Soares to death while she slept and then dumping her body in a trash bin.

Stories and links below the cut from CNN.com, The Salt Lake Tribune, and Deseret Morning News; also the Soares family statement from the Trib.

CNN.com: Sentencing for man who killed, dumped wife

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP)—Saying he is "tormented every waking minute by what I did," a Utah man was sentenced Monday to six years to life in prison for shooting his wife to death as she slept a year ago.

Judge Denise Lindberg listened to nearly two hours of emotional testimony before handing down the only sentence she could under Utah law. She said only the parole board could determine how long Mark Hacking will ultimately stay in prison, but that she will recommend that he be held "a very long time."

Hacking, 29, said there was no excuse he could offer for his behavior, and that he would serve a thousand lifetimes in prison if it meant amending for his actions in murdering Lori Hacking and dumping her body in the trash. Authorities believe Hacking killed his wife after she discovered he had lied about being admitted to medical school.

"She didn't do nothing but love me unconditionally, even when I didn't deserve it. She was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, but I killed her, and took the life of my unborn child and put them in the garbage and I can't explain why I did it," Hacking said in a halted voice when addressing the judge and family members.

"I put them in the garbage, and they rotted out at the landfill. I'm tormented every waking minute by what I did," he said.

An autopsy of the badly decomposed body could not confirm that Lori Hacking was pregnant, as she had told friends, leaving the state unable to seek the death penalty. Prosecutor Robert Stott said that left insufficient proof for such a charge.

Lori Hacking's mother, 67-year-old Thelma Soares, said she felt "shattered and betrayed to the very core. After nearly a year, I can't accept the fact that after shooting her in the head, Mark dumped Lori in the trash."

Lori Hacking's body was found three months later at a landfill. Soares said she was only able to bury 15 pounds of bone fragments and teeth from her 115-pound daughter.

"How could you do that, Mark? How could you do that?" Soares asked Hacking during the hearing.

"I'm sorry," he replied.

The couple were packing for a move to a North Carolina school when Lori Hacking is believed to have found out about the lies. Her co-workers at a Wells Fargo brokerage say she broke down sobbing after making calls to school administrators in North Carolina who, according to police affidavits, told her Mark Hacking was not enrolled there.

The affidavits say the couple argued after she confronted him July 18. After Lori went to bed, Mark Hacking stayed up late playing video games for an hour. Then, sorting through his belongings, he found his rifle, went into the bedroom and shot his wife, according to investigators.

He disposed of her body, the rifle and mattress in separate trash bins. And the next morning, he found time to shop for a new mattress while reporting his wife had not returned from an early morning jog.

Lori's car was found at a downtown park, its seat and mirrors adjusted for a large man, police determined. Thousands of volunteers turned out for days helping search for her before he indicated to family members there was no reason to continue the search.

In April, Hacking pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with a brief admission: "I intentionally shot Lori Hacking in the head with a .22 rifle on July 19, 2004."

Under Utah's system of indeterminate criminal sentences, first-degree murder brings a mandatory five years to life, but Hacking's minimum will be increased to six years because he used a firearm. The judge can only impose the broad range of sentence, leaving it up to Utah's Board of Pardons and Parole to decide when or if Hacking will ever be set free.
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Salt Lake Tribune: Breaking: Mark Hacking gets 6 to life for killing his wife

By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune


Mark Hacking—who shot and killed his wife, Lori Hacking, last July—was sentenced Monday to serve six years to life in Utah State Prison.

Hacking, 29, stood before a 3rd District Court bench as Judge Denise Lindberg handed down the sentence: five years to life for first-degree felony murder plus a one-year sentencing "enhancement" for using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

His exact sentence will be determined by Utah's Board of Pardons and Parole.

"I don't envy the job of the parole board but my recommendation will be that it be a very, very long time before you are ever considered for parole," Lindberg told Hacking.

The judge's sentence followed more than 90 minutes of statements from members of Lori Hacking's family, who asked that Hacking never be released, and relatives of Mark Hacking, who expressed hope that someday he could be paroled.

The most emotional moment came when Lori's mother, Thelma Soares, lashed out at Hacking for killing her daughter and unborn grandchild and disposing of them like trash.

"How could you do that, Mark? How could you do that to me?" she said, facing the killer.

"I'm sorry," Hacking replied, dabbing his eyes.

Soares then told the judge, "I can't think of one good reason Mark should ever walk free again. I loved that young man as if he were my own son. He now tells me he's sorry but those words come easy and ring hollow in the face of his selfish actions. It would be a travesty for him to be given any sentence other than life without parole."

In his statement to the judge, an oft-sobbing Mark Hacking said, "I know words are cheap, especially from me, but from the bottom of my heart, I'm so sorry for the pain I've caused. I deserve to be in prison...for the rest of my life. I don't know if I'll ever feel I've done enough time."

In addition to the prison time, Hacking must pay fines totaling $18,500 and restitition of $120,000 to cover police search and recovery efforts and victim reparations.

Hacking pleaded guilty April 15 to killing his wife, admitting that he shot her in the head as she lay sleeping in their apartment at 127 S. Lincoln St. (945 East) in the early morning hours of Monday, July 19.

The murder came days after the Lori Hacking discovered that Hacking had lied about being accepted to medical school at the University of North Carolina.

Mark Hacking called police at 10:49 a.m. to report his wife, who was reportedly a few weeks pregnant, had failed to return from a jog in City Creek Canyon and that he had found her car parked in Memory Grove.

Though police organized a search that was joined in the next few days by thousands of volunteers, detectives almost immediately turned their sights on Hacking. Shortly before calling police, Hacking had purchased a new mattress.

Officers also found trace amounts of blood in Lori's car, blood and fibers on a knife in the apartment and a mattress in a Dumpster near their apartment. The mattress' pillow top had been cut off.

In the early morning hours of the following day, July 20, a naked Mark Hacking was observed running around naked outside a hotel near 700 East and 400 South. Police took him to the psychiatric unit at University Hospital.

On July 24, while still in the hospital, Hacking confessed to his brothers, Scott and Lance Hacking, that he had murdered his wife.

Police booked Mark Hacking into jail upon his release from the hospital on Aug. 2.

Based on information he had provided to his brothers, police began an intensive probe of the Salt Lake County landfill. Dozens of firefighters and police officers, often with the help of specially trained cadaver dogs, searched the dump for weeks, eventually finding her remains in a garbage bag on Oct. 1. An autopsy failed to establish a cause of death or determine whether she was pregnant but the state medical examiner ruled her death an intentional homicide.

Hacking later admitted that after killing his wife, he wrapped her body in garbage bags and disposed of her in a Dumpster. He also disposed of the murder weapon, a .22-caliber rifle.

The gun has not been recovered.
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Deseret Morning News: Hacking to get six years to life for killing wife

By Paul Foy
Associated Press


Mark Hacking was sentenced Monday to six years to life in prison for the shooting death of his wife while she slept last July, bringing to a close a murder that shocked Utah and still hasn't been fully explained.

Judge Denise Lindberg listened to nearly two hours of emotional testimony before handing down the only sentence she could under Utah law.

Lindberg said only the parole board could determine how long Hacking will ultimately stay in prison, but that she will recommend that he be held "a very long time."

Mark Hacking, 29, said there was no excuse he could offer for his behavior, and that he'd give a thousand lifetimes in prison if he could to amend for his actions.

"She didn't do nothing but love me unconditionally, even when I didn't deserve it. She was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, but I killed her, and took the life of my unborn child and put them in the garbage and I can't explain why I did it," Hacking said in a halted voice when addressing the judge and family members.

"I put them in the garbage, and they rotted out at the landfill. I'm tormented every waking minute by what I did," he said.

An autopsy of the badly decomposed body could not confirm that Lori Hacking was pregnant, as she had told friends, leaving the state unable to seek the death penalty for aggravating circumstances. Prosecutor Robert Stott said that left insufficient proof for such a charge.

In April, Mark Hacking pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with a brief admission: "I intentionally shot Lori Hacking in the head with a .22 rifle on July 19, 2004."

Utah's system of indeterminate sentences for crimes can be confusing. First-degree murder brings a mandatory five years to life, but Hacking's minimum will be increased to six years because he used a firearm. The judge can only impose the broad range of sentence, leaving it up to Utah's Board of Pardons and Parole to decide when or if Hacking will ever be set free.

Lori Hacking's mother, 67-year-old Thelma Soares, said she felt "shattered and betrayed to the very core. After nearly a year, I can't accept the fact that after shooting her in the head, Mark dumped Lori in the trash."

Lori Hacking's body was found three months later at a landfill. Soares said she was only able to bury 15 pounds of bone fragments and teeth from her 115-pound daughter.

"How could you do that, Mark? How could you do that?" Soares asked Hacking during the hearing.

"I'm sorry," he replied.

It's a dramatic turn for a once doting husband who for years kept a secret from his family and wife: He never graduated college nor been admitted into medical school, even though he and Lori were packing for the move to a North Carolina school.

Lori Hacking's colleagues a Wells Fargo brokerage house said she may have found out her husband's deceptions three days before she was killed. Co-workers say she broke down sobbing after making calls to school administrators in North Carolina who, according to police affidavits, told her Mark Hacking was not enrolled there.

The affidavits say the couple argued after she confronted him July 18. After Lori went to bed, Mark Hacking stayed up late playing video games for an hour. Then, sorting through his belongings, he found his deer rifle, went into the bedroom and shot his young wife, according to investigators.

He disposed of her body, the rifle and mattress in separate trash bins. And the next morning, he found time to shop for a new mattress while reporting his wife hadn't returned from an early morning jog.

Lori's car was found at a downtown park, its seat and mirrors adjusted for a large man, police determined. Thousands of volunteers turned out for days helping search for her before he indicated to family members there was no reason to continue the search.

The parole board will decide within six months of Hacking's arrival at prison when he'll get a parole hearing that could be 20 years out. Although meaningful statistics are hard to come by, typically first-degree murder felons in Utah spend 14-20 years in prison before being granted parole. But some are never let go, and it depends on factors ranging from the nature of their crime to their behavior in prison.

What's more certain is Hacking would be facing many more years behind bars had he chosen to go to trial and been convicted by a jury. Then he'd be looking at spending 40 years in prison before the parole board released him, veteran Salt Lake defense attorney Greg Skordas has said.
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Salt Lake Tribune: Hacking family statement

Mark Hacking's family released the following statement today after he was sentenced for killing his wife. Hacking's father, Douglas Hacking, read the statement to reporters and later the family distributed copies of it.
It is difficult to talk about our son, Mark Hacking, without sounding like we are making excuses for his involvement in the senseless and tragic death of our daughter-in-law Lori on the night of July 18, 2004. We are doing so to clear up some misconceptions about this case and to provide a clearer understanding of what occurred and why.

As has already been reported by the media, in 1996 mark was sent home from an LDS mission for failing to live up to the high standards expected from the missionaries called to represent the church. He was also having some health problems and returned ashamed and in spiritual, emotional, and physical pain.

Within a few weeks, Mark suffered a series of additional health problems that resulted in three surgeries. The most serious of these issues was a concussion, seizure and broken back from falling off the roof of a house. Following months of incapacitating back pain, Mark tried to go back to college but found it almost impossible to sit in class for long due to the pain and resulting inability to concentrate. His ability to sit improved over the years, but his inability to concentrate or learn continued to hinder him.

Although we were unaware of Mark's learning disability, we have recently come to know how agonizing it was for him to fail one class after another to the point that he could no longer attend college. These failures were terribly hard on his self-esteem and created constant anxiety for him. Rather than admit to himself and others that he could not succeed in college, he began to create the illusion that he was going to school and doing well. He pretended to graduate from the University of Utah and carried his deception to the point of actually visiting several medical schools to "interview." We now know that he lied about graduating from college and applying to medical schools. Mark told everyone that he had been accepted to four schools and deliberated which to attend. Last summer, Mark and Lori traveled to North Carolina to look for a place to live and signed a rental agreement. They then quit their jobs in Utah and packed to move.

Mark sensed that the house of cards he had been building for years was beginning to sway, and he became even more anxious. Lori found out that he had never applied to any medical schools, and Mark finally admitted everything to her on the night of July 18, 2004. As you can imagine, Lori was deeply hurt.

To clear up some misconceptions about Mark's confession, it was reported Mark's brothers, Lance and Scott, were the ones who told authorities Mark had killed Lori. The reality is that on July 24, Lance confronted Mark with the evidence police had gathered and urged him to reveal where Lori's body was. He and Scott met with Mark that evening, at which time Mark confessed everything to them. His attorney was notified and instructed, by Mark, to provide information regarding Lori's whereabouts to the district attorney, an act which took place the following day. From that point on, it was never a matter of whether Mark would plead guilty but when he would do it based on the processes of the legal system. Mark resolved in August that he would never let his case be tried and informed his attorney of that decision.

As for Mark's character, until this chain of events, he had never been in trouble with the law nor did he ever develop bad habits such as the use of illegal drugs. Mark always had good friends. He has always been an obedient, hard working, and thoughtful individual who treated us with respect.

More than anything, we know that Mark loved Lori. We never heard them argue. We never heard him say a negative word about her. When they were not working, they were inseparable.

Mark suffers continually for his choices. Anyone who could have shared in our conversations with him or read his letters and life history would know the depth of his sorrow and remorse for having taken the life of the one person he cherished most and for having caused pain to so many others especially Lori's family. Mark was close to Thelma and has expressed particular concern for her suffering in almost every letter and conversation we have had with him.

We are not sure any of us will ever understand why Mark did what he did, nor are we sure he will ever fully understand it either. What we are sure about is that he is willing to pay any price for what he has done. He has a desire to continue to serve others but realizes his opportunities to do so in prison will be limited. As a family, we hope that someday he can be released from prison so that he can be in a better position to contribute to the lives of others. As for when Mark should be released, we will leave that up to the parole board as they consider how he conducts his life while incarcerated. And for the eternal consequences of his actions we will leave that to the savior, who will judge him with perfect justice but also perfect mercy, having a full knowledge of the state of his mind at the time he ended Lori's life.

Our family continues to feel deep sorrow and regret for Thelma, Eraldo, Paul, and Lori's other family members and friends for the emptiness that has filled their lives since losing Lori. As parents, we wish we could have prevented this tragic event. We also loved her and will continue to miss her presence in our lives as well.

Although we abhor what Mark did, we are proud of him for taking responsibility for his actions and for his desire to repent. As hard as it may seem to believe, we love him more now than before.

We wish to express a final thanks to our own family, friends, neighbors, and community members that have extended unconditional, Christ-like love to our family during this devastating time. Thank you also to Mr. Gil Athay for his help and professionalism in providing services to Mark.

We are grateful that the media has respected our wishes for privacy over the past year. This will be our final statement to the press, as we request that we be permitted to move on with our lives.

Finally, in the hope that someone else might learn from Mark's mistakes, permit us to quote Mark:

"I know prison is where I need to be. I will spend my time there doing all I can to right the many wrongs I have done, though I realize complete atonement is impossible in this life. I have a lot of healing and changing to do, but I hope that some day I can become the man Lori always thought I was.

"To the many people I have hurt, I am more sorry than you could ever know. Every day my soul burns in torment when I think of what you must be going through. I wish I could take away your pain. I wish I could take back all the lies I have told and replace them with the truth. I wish I could put Lori back into your arms. My pain is deserved; yours is not. From the bottom of my heart, I beg for your forgiveness.

"There is no such thing as a harmless lie no matter how small it is. You may think a lie only hurts the liar, but this is far from the truth. If you are traveling a path of lies, please stop now and face the consequences. Whatever those consequences, they will be better than the pain you are causing yourself and others."
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And the last word, again from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Statement by Thelma Soares

It has been a grueling and painful year for me since Mark killed Lori and their unborn child last July, and there are days when I still can't believe it's true.

Everything about this bizarre tragedy has devastated me; I loved that young man as if he were my own son so his betrayal is profound. The dark cloud that hangs over my head never dissipates because the consequences of Mark's decision to kill his wife and baby are fixed and permanent. Although he had the power to terminate two lives, it is beyond his power to restore them. Justice demands that his life remain as irrevocably altered as Lori's, his child's and mine are.

I'm relieved that Mark finally entered a guilty plea and that all court proceedings are now complete. I do not wish for bad things to happen to him. I hope he uses his life in prison to accomplish something redemptive for himself and all the good he can for others; he certainly ought to finish college if he is able to.

Regardless of how exemplary a prisoner he may be or become, however, it doesn't alter the chilling fact that he killed my daughter and grandchild and then threw them in the trash with the intent that they never be found and I never know what happened to them. Those acts constitute the very epitome of depraved indifference.

Again, I thank the media and people everywhere for their love, their support, their prayers offered on my behalf, and their generosity to Lori's scholarship fund; and I especially extend my heartfelt gratitude to all those who helped in the search for Lori.

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