Defense points finger at police

Opening arguments heard in 15-year-old's murder trial

EPHRATA — Two 12-year-old boys and one who celebrated his 13th birthday just days earlier spent the afternoon of Feb. 15, 2003, jumping on park benches, playing tackle tag and roaming Ephrata's Oasis Park. Soon one ended up beaten and stabbed to death and his two companions were charged with the murder.

The day was cold and rainy. Residents had gathered along Basin Street SW, including where the street ran past the park on the south end of town. The gathering was planned for a farewell sendoff to local National Guard soldiers headed for the Middle East.

There was also a group of people staying at the recreational vehicle park who were in town for an athletic event.

But away from the gathered crowds and across the park's main pond, named "Ping Pond" after a former Ephrata mayor, lay the dead body of Craig Sorger, a 13-year-old special needs student, according to testimony in Grant County Superior Court Monday.

Sorger's two playmates, Evan Savoie, of Ephrata, and Jake Eakin, of Moses Lake, were charged with first-degree murder. They both initially insisted they were innocent.

Last April, though, more than two years after Sorger's murder, Eakin agreed to plead guilty to complicity to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 14 years in custody and is currently serving time in a state juvenile facility near Centralia.

On Monday, Savoie, now 15, spent his first day on trial for the murder as attorneys for both sides delivered their opening statements and the first seven of a possible 100 witnesses testified, including Sorger's mother, Lisa, and younger brother Keith.

Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell started with a color photo of the blond-haired and brown-eyed Sorger, smiling.

"I'd like to introduce you to a young man who can't be here today," Knodell said.

Autopsy photos followed and were projected on the courtroom wall showing in graphic detail the viciousness of the murder. Knodell also detailed the inconsistent stories told by both Eakin and Savoie to the Ephrata Police Department during the initial investigation.

Knodell said Savoie is guilty based on three facts. First, Sorger was stabbed. Second, Savoie was covered in Sorger's blood.

"And when I say covered, I mean he was covered," Knodell told jurors. "Literally, from head to toe."

Third, he said Savoie tried to cover it up.

"He tried to wash the bloody evidence off and washed the blood from his face, his hands" and from his sweatshirt in the nearby pond. Savoie eventually left the sweatshirt behind and told his mother it was stolen, Knodell said.

Monty Hormel, Savoie's attorney, asked jurors to look at the "very narrow timeline" of events and said there wasn't enough time for the boys to commit the brutal murder and return home when they did.

"That's really important in this case," he said.

He said the three boys were playing on a tree when Sorger fell and was injured. He said the other two boys ran away when they realized he was seriously hurt, because they were scared.

Hormel suggested someone else may have killed Sorger.

"That boy laid out there for three hours and he was available to anyone who wanted to kill him," Hormel said.

Hormel criticized the Ephrata police investigation.

"There were a lot of people around and the police hardly interviewed anyone," Hormel told jurors. "They focused on these two boys to the exclusion of everybody else."

Hormel singled out former Ephrata police detective John Phillips, who was sitting with prosecutors Monday.

"They just practically, totally dropped it," Hormel said. "They really didn't do much of anything."

Eakin's expected testimony could be key for either side in the case.

As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors expect Eakin to testify against Savoie. However, his story has changed several times.

Hormel said Eakin's testimony is unreliable. But, he said, Eakin has never actually stated that Savoie stabbed Sorger.

"I don't know what he's going to say this time," Hormel said. "(Prosecutors) probably have their fingers crossed as to what he'll say this time."

After the opening statements, the victim's mother and his brother Keith each answered questions from the witness chair, describing the hours they spent in their failed search for Craig Sorger.

Keith Sorger left the family's 29-foot trailer home near the park to search for his brother along the walking path paralleling the nearby irrigation canal. He also searched the park several times, coming close to his brother's body at least once.

Lisa Sorger went looking for Craig Sorger with the family's dog. She headed north along the irrigation canal toward an area under construction, thinking the boys may have gone there to see the equipment.

The two eventually went together to find Savoie's home. By accident they finally found it after Lisa Sorger asked a young boy "if he knew a kid named Evan," according to her testimony.

Savoie's stepfather, Andy Parent, was the only one home when Lisa Sorger knocked on his door looking for the three boys.

Parent called Savoie's mother, Holly Parent, after talking with Lisa Sorger to find out where her son may be. Holly Parent was headed to Moses Lake with Eakin and Savoie. She dropped Eakin off at home and returned to Ephrata with Savoie.

Lisa Sorger called her husband, Chuck, who was in Everett preparing the family's previous home for sale. He told her to call 911, she testified. She knew her son was scared of the dark and wouldn't be out this late unless there was trouble.

At 6:23 p.m., she made the emergency call from the Parent residence.

Andy Parent also took the witness stand Monday. He said Lisa Sorger showed up "soaking wet" to his residence, after she had been out searching in the rain.

He said it was close to 7 p.m. before his wife, Savoie and Lisa and Keith Sorger returned to the park to help police search.

Craig Sorger's still-warm body was found at 7:13 p.m. by an Ephrata police officer who was searching a wooded section of the park with a flashlight.

Andy Parent was still on the stand when Grant County Superior Court Judge Ken Jorgensen decided to break for the day. The trial resumes today at 9 a.m. with more witness testimony.