Posted on 08/06/2004 6:30:21 AM PDT by MizSterious
|
1 hour, 57 minutes ago
|
By PAUL FOY, Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY - The attorney for Mark Hacking said he will raise the issue of mental illness and challenge his client's confession to relatives that he killed his wife, Lori, and dumped her body in a garbage bin.
Hacking, 28, reportedly made the statement to his brothers when he was a psychiatric patient in the hospital, said defense lawyer Gil Athay.
"To me that creates a substantial issue," Athay told Salt Lake television station KUTV Thursday. "Mental illness, mental deficiency certainly will be an issue in this case."
Hacking reported his wife missing on July 19, a Monday. He said she had gone jogging and never showed up for work. Early the next morning, police found him naked outside a hotel and he was taken to the psychiatric ward.
Scott and Lance Hacking talked with their younger brother at the hospital July 24. They said he told them he had killed his wife while she was sleeping.
The brothers said they passed the information along to police through an intermediary.
For years, Mark Hacking allegedly lied to his wife, family and friends about his education and career plans. Not only wasn't he enrolled at medical school, he hadn't even graduated from the University of Utah. Yet, he and his wife were packing for the move to Chapel Hill, N.C., where she had presumed he was beginning at the medical program.
The Friday before she was reported missing, Lori Hacking, 27, left work stunned and sobbing. Her co-workers told The Associated Press she had been making some arrangements at the North Carolina medical school, and they believe an administrator was calling back to say Mark Hacking wasn't enrolled there.
"I think it's clear that this whole house of cards he had built, all this deception, had come to an end," the man's father, Douglas Hacking, told the AP. "He had been found out. His wife discovered his deception and confronted him with it, and I just think he just saw his whole world collapsing and broke down."
"He just snapped, and did something there's no explanation for. That's the only way I can envision it," he said.
Douglas and Scott Hacking are physicians, and Lance Hacking is an electronics engineer. Douglas Hacking said he believed Mark probably felt pressured by his family's achievements.
Mark Hacking was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday when officers learned that he was about to be released from the hospital. Thursday was the deadline for District Attorney David Yocom to file charges in the case, but a judge gave him an extension until Monday.
Police have been plowing through the area of the county landfill where garbage collected from about the time of Lori's disappearance had been deposited. The trash was compacted between loads. It's 20 feet deep over an area of two football fields and weighs about 3,000 tons.
A backhoe digs out a chunk of the trash, which is then spread out and cadaver dogs go over it. The work is done during the cooler night hours for the benefit of the dogs, who are working in difficult circumstances as they are assaulted by so many strong odors. The searches have been interrupted for days at a time to give the dogs a break, or because they are needed on other assignments around the state.
Lori Hacking pinglist--send me freepmail if you want on or off!
God forbid we should allow this. Doesn't everyone know that a defense attorney's firs goal is: To Free the guilty!!!!
Hell yes, substantial TV face time & a substantial legal bill. The snake will bite the family.
Poor Mark must have been the subject of undue influence and just said what they wanted to hear, but as usual, he was fibbing again. Yeah, that'll work.
sw
sw
I suspected this would happen. It's the whole reason Mark got into the nut house. Crazy like a fox.
I think you're right. As soon as I heard that he'd checked himself in, I thought he must be laying the groundwork for his defense strategy. As others have said, it might not work, but I'm concerned about getting the confession thrown out. Some judges might go that route.
You were right the first time.
No, Mr. Hacking, your son waited for Lori to go to sleep and went in and stabbed her to death. Then tried to hide evidence and concocted a story.
Completely sane acts. Plain and simple.
Bingo! While the family might be trying to do the right thing, the attorney's goal is to get the defendent off. Mark Hacking has never once shown he has any sense of morality or decency, and will happily drive his family into the poorhouse to save his sorry hide.
Yes, you sure did, and boy, were you right!
The insanity "defense" is practically impossible to mount in Utah. You have to show you couldn't form the intent to kill. Obviously not the case here.
And, as far as the confession to his brothers goes, I think there's enough circumstantial evidence to convict him without it.
The dad needs to pull the plug on funding the lawyer, before his sociopathic son ruins him financially, not just emotionally.
We used to say, "cold blooded murder"--wouldn't be at all surprised if he had planned this longer than even what they're saying. If there was any "snapping" at all, I think it was when he realized he was going to get caught.
Mark's dad is gonna have to rethink his theory of Mark just breaking down. If he just broke down, why the he-- did he kill her while she slept?
Lori found out his first deception on Friday-I bet she found out about other deceptions Sat-Sun, told him to get out, and he came back later and killed her.
Friends and family talk about how wonderful the marriage was. Sure, she worked 1st shift at bank and he worked nights-they would only have any real time together on weekends. He had lots of time alone to have a whole separate life of lies.
Reckless Speculation-Off
I'm waiting to hear about the mistresses. I'll bet in his "other life" had at least one, apart from the unfortunate missionary incidents.
Now, wasn't there something reported early on about a tarp or some sort of plastic sheeting put down on mattress before she was killed (think I heard that from Breathless Rita Cosby)? How does that jibe with him claiming he killed her while she was asleep? Unless they had one of those plastic covers one puts on a mattress for incontinence-or other-accidents...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.