SALT LAKE CITY — A tentative plea deal has been reached in the case of a West Valley City man charged with murder in the beating death of his neighbor.
Attorneys for Martin Vuksinick, 19, told 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton Friday that prosecutors have agreed to allow Vuksinick to plead guilty to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and recommend that he serve 20 years to life in prison.
Despite the agreement, he didn't enter any guilty plea Friday, however. He is expected to do so at a hearing scheduled for Dec. 17.
Vuksinick is also facing charges of aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, in the case involving the 2009 death of his neighbor, Kimberly Hain, a 33-year-old mother of two. Prosecutors say Vuksinick went into Hain's home intending to commit a theft and ended up beating Hain with a baseball bat.
He initially joined other neighbors in expressing shock to the media over Hain's death, but police say he later led them to a field where he had allegedly discarded the baseball bat used in the crime.
Hain's husband, Pat Hain, attended the hearing Friday. He said he once considered Vuksinick and his family to be friends and that they would often have dinners together, celebrate birthdays and go camping.
"(Vuksinick) was always accepted as part of the families, part of the neighborhood," he said.
He said while the neighborhood was tight-knit, it was he and his wife who noticed when Vuksinick "had kind of gone downhill," and they tried to help him. He said Vuksinick stopped going to school and started taking drugs.
"Kim and I were very vocal about what we thought he should be doing," Pat Hain said. "We tried to make it so he knew we loved and cared about him, but weren't supporting what he was doing. … We had no problem giving our two cents."
Vuksinick was "not really receptive" to the couple's attempts to intervene, and Pat Hain said he wasn't sure if that created any animosity. He didn't believe that was the motive for what Vuksinick allegedly did, although he said he's never been certain.
"I would assume he was trying to steal something to pawn for drugs," he said.
Hain said he has tried to "make things as normal as you can" for the couple's two children, but he still struggles, especially when he attends court hearings.
"I'm mostly beside myself as far as all this goes," he said.
Though attorneys said Atherton has indicated a tentative willingness to impose the agreed-upon sentence, prosecutor Chad May said the judge wanted to read over a pre-sentence report before committing. He said defense attorneys also want to have time to gather any evidence that may help Vuksinick's case.
Although Pat Hain said he wouldn't mind if the plea deal fell through and the case went to trial, the planned resolution to the case is one he can accept.
"I think long story short when it came down to it, it's something we feel will be in the best interest of everyone," he said. "We feel it's a fair sentence."
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