Through his defense attorney Thursday, Mark Hacking waived his right to a preliminary hearing on charges that he murdered his wife, Lori. Third District Judge William W. Barrett then bound the case over for trial.
Mark Hacking will next appear in court for arraignment on the charges at 9 a.m. Oct. 29 before Judge Denise Lindberg. At that time, Hacking will be expected to enter a plea to the charges. If convicted on all counts, Hacking could spend the rest of his life in prison.
As filed, the charges do not allow Salt Lake County prosecutors to pursue the death penalty, assistant District Attorney Bob Stott said Thursday.
To date, Stott said, "There have been no plea negotiations."
Meanwhile, the families of Mark and Lori Hacking greeted each other in court as they have many times before — with tenderness and genuine warmth, hugging each other and then huddling close in a circle to talk.
A few feet away, on the other side of the glass door of a court office, the media swarmed, waiting for the chance to pose a question that might elicit a response.
But the Soares and Hacking families declined comment both before and after the court appearance.
Hacking, 28, is charged with one felony count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree felony obstruction of justice in connection with the death of his wife, Lori Kay Soares Hacking.
The district attorney's office learned Wednesday from Mark Hacking's attorney, D. Gilbert Athay, of the defendant's intention to waive the hearing, said Stott, adding that is not an uncommon occurrence. Prosecutors had planned to present some of the evidence collected in the case and, had the hearing proceeded, would have put several witnesses on the stand, including Mark's brother, Scott Hacking, who was in the courtroom.
"But it's not our right to give away," Stott said. "We can't control it, it's the defendant's right to waive."
Lori Hacking, 27, was reporting missing to Salt Lake City police July 19, after Mark said she had gone for a sunrise jog in Memory Grove but never returned. Within days, police had learned that Mark Hacking had lied to friends and family about his life, including his graduation from the University of Utah and plans for medical school in North Carolina.
Lori Hacking is presumed dead, and police are searching a county landfill for her remains. So far, after a 25-day search with cadaver dogs and about two weeks into a hand search of 4,600 tons of garbage, she has not been found.
In an alleged confession from his hospital bed about five days after he reported his wife's disappearance, Mark told two of his brothers that he used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot Lori as she slept and then deposited her body in a Dumpster near the University of Utah.
Police and prosecutors say they believe Lori's body is likely at the waste facility west of downtown Salt Lake City and have no reason to believe otherwise.
"We would hope that (Mark) didn't lie to his brothers," Stott said, adding that prosecutors believe they have a strong case even without recovering Lori's body or the weapon allegedly used to kill her.
Even so, to find her "would help because we would have a cause of death," Stott added.
In Thursday's hearing, Mark Hacking registered no visible emotion in court and didn't even seem to acknowledge the presence of his parents, Douglas and Janet Hacking, his brother, a sister or either of his siblings' spouses. Nor did he make eye contact with Eraldo Soares, his father-in-law.
Dressed in yellow jail-issue pants and shirt and sporting a bullet-proof vest printed with the word "prisoner," he stood arrow-straight, his hands shackled behind his back as he addressed the court.
"Yes . . . yes, your honor," Mark Hacking said in response to Barrett when asked if he understood the rights he had forfeited in waiving the preliminary hearing.
In less than two minutes, the proceedings were complete.
Athay offered no comment before or after the hearing. He has said in the past that he planned to challenge the admissibility of Mark's alleged confession to his family.
Stott said such a challenge would be expected and that the decision whether to exclude it would be left to a judge.
In a written statement faxed several hours after the hearing, Eraldo Soares said he was pleased with how the legal process is progressing and thanked police and prosecutors for their work.
"I am confident that the authorities are competently handling the case," the statement reads. "The facts of the case thus far speak for themselves. I have every confidence that justice will be served."
E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com