Hacking Pleads Guilty

A man accused of killing his wife after she learned that he lied about getting into medical school pleaded guilty to murder Friday.

Prosecutors say Mark Hacking shot his wife in the head as she slept, then threw 27-year-old Lori Hacking's body in a trash bin. Volunteers scouring a landfill found her decomposed remains about three months later.

Authorities believe Lori Hacking was killed July 19, 2004, after learning her husband wasn't enrolled in medical school in North Carolina, though they were arranging to move there.

It was among a series of deceptions Mark Hacking had perpetuated over several years, police say.

The murder charge carries a sentence of five years to life in prison, CBS' KUTV reports. Prosecutors said because Hacking used a gun in the crime, the sentencing range will be from six years to life.
Hacking, a hospital orderly, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He also was charged with obstructing justice by disposing of the body, the gun and a bloody mattress, but those charges were dropped as part of Friday's deal.

Sentencing was scheduled for June 6. And CBS News Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen says Hacking should brace for the worst.

"The maximum sentence in the case is life in prison and I would expect Hacking would get that penalty, or something close to it, when sentencing takes place in June," Cohen said. "There is no reason for either prosecutors or the judge to cut him any sort of a break."

Prosecutors were unable to determine if Lori Hacking was five weeks' pregnant, as she had told friends. That meant the husband could not be charged with a capital crime.

Lori Hacking's colleagues at a Wells Fargo brokerage house have said she broke down sobbing after learning of her husband's deception. She became aware of the lies after making calls to school administrators in North Carolina, where Hacking claimed he was enrolled for medical school. Hacking had also lied about graduating from the University of Utah.

Mark Hacking, 28, entered his plea after his lawyer showed no sign of preparing for a trial. The lawyer, Gilbert Athay, filed no motions, asked for none of the usual hearings that precede trials, and contacted no prosecution witnesses — leading many to believe a plea deal was in the works.

That became more apparent when Judge Denise Lindberg scheduled another murder trial for the time Monday when she was to preside over Hacking's trial.

Mark Hacking was last in court Oct. 29, when he pleaded not guilty to all four charges.

Hacking had reported his wife missing to police, saying she had not returned from a morning jog in a Salt Lake park.

The news prompted a weeklong search for the former stockbroker's assistant by thousands of volunteers — a search that echoed another sensational Salt Lake crime, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart from her bedroom.

Hacking was in a psychiatric hospital after suffering a breakdown when he confessed to his brothers that he killed his wife using a .22-caliber firearm.

"After he apparently confessed to the crime, the only question in the case was whether Hacking was going to try to assert some sort of insanity defense," Cohen said. "We now know that that won't happen and that Hacking apparently was competent enough to enter into this plea deal and have it accepted by the judge. It's a tidy end to a messy case."