Savoie found guilty

Savoie's mother says son didn't get fair trial

EPHRATA — Evan Savoie was convicted Friday afternoon in Grant County Superior Court of stabbing 13-year-old companion Craig Sorger to death in a wooded section of Ephrata's Oasis Park more than three years ago.

Savoie, 15, was 12 years old at the time and now faces between 20 and 26 years in prison for the first-degree murder conviction. He is one of the youngest murder defendants in Washington to be tried as an adult.

The decision has left the Sorger family feeling satisfied, and Savoie's mother convinced the teen didn't get a fair trail.

As Grant County Superior Court Judge Ken Jorgensen read the jury's decision of guilty and polled each juror, Savoie showed no emotion.

At least two members of the jury appeared to be crying as they quietly filed out of the packed courtroom at about 4 p.m., concluding nearly a day and a half of deliberations.

Jorgensen set sentencing for June 5 at 9 a.m.

Savoie, of Ephrata, has maintained his innocence since the night of the murder. Savoie and friend Jake Eakin, 15, of Moses Lake, immediately became suspects in Sorger's murder after police learned the three boys had been playing together in the park that day.

On Wednesday, near the end of the three-week trial, Savoie took the witness stand in his own defense, repeating his story that Sorger was badly injured after falling from a tree and was left without aid by his two playmates. Savoie testified he never stabbed Sorger as police and prosecutors claimed.

The jury ruled otherwise, following testimony from Savoie's former co-defendant and lifelong friend Eakin, who provided prosecutors with everything they needed for a conviction.

"Eakin's testimony had a very powerful impact," Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell said in an interview after the verdict was read.

Eakin struck a deal with prosecutors in April 2005, pleading guilty to a lesser charge of complicity to second-degree murder, which was reduced from an original first-degree murder charge. As part of the deal, Eakin agreed to testify against Savoie.

Jorgensen sentenced Eakin to more than 14 years in custody, ignoring the recommendation of prosecutors, who requested a mitigated eight-year sentence. The shorter sentence would have kept Eakin out of adult prison and in the state's juvenile rehabilitation system.

In addition to Eakin's testimony, Knodell said prosecutors provided jurors with "powerful circumstantial evidence in this case," including the shirt and sweatshirt Savoie stashed in a small pond in the park because they were covered in Sorger's blood.

"I'm very gratified by the result," Knodell said. "This young man poses a very serious threat to society."

The murder has devastated three families and a community, he said.

"This particular defendant needed to be convicted," Knodell said. "For his own good and the good of the community."

Outside the courtroom, Lisa Sorger, the victim's mother, said the family was happy with the verdict.

The victim's father Chuck Sorger was not at the courthouse Friday after the jury's verdict was returned. He has not attended the proceedings.

"It's just taken too long," Lisa Sorger said. "But the jury did a wonderful job."

During the trial, Savoie's defense attorneys suggested someone in the Sorger family, possibly his father, may have killed Craig Sorger. She said those suggestions have been "extremely hurtful" to the family.

"It's bad enough that I lost my son," Lisa Sorger said.

"Craig got justice today," said Karen Sorger, Craig Sorger's grandmother, as she held framed pictures of the former Ephrata Middle School special education student.

Savoie's mother Holly Parent said she believes her son is innocent and "the killer is still out there." She said the defense team was unable to prove her son was innocent because they were prevented from introducing certain evidence or calling several witnesses.

"They took way too much away from the defense's side. The judge is biased," Parent said. "He didn't get a fair trial."

Parent said she visited with her son after the verdict was read on Friday. He provided her with a statement.

"He said he had 'no hard feelings toward the jury, they did the best they could with what they were allowed to use,'" Parent read from the statement.

She said her son had faith in the system before he was first arrested.

"He said, 'Don't worry, Mom, they are going to figure this out and I'm coming home,'" she recalled her son saying.

Now, she said, they must hope for a different result on appeal.

"This investigation was botched from the beginning," Parent said. "It was a kangaroo courtroom."

Defense attorney Randy Smith said he was "a little shocked" by the jury's decision.

"I really thought we'd created some reasonable doubt," Smith said. "I thought at the very least that the state had not come close to proving premeditation."

"I gave (Savoie) a hug and told him to take care," Smith said.

He described Savoie as a "very thoughtful kid" and said he "controls his emotions very well."

Smith and Savoie's other defense attorney Monty Hormel both patted their client on the back immediately after the verdict was read. They assured him there was "some ammunition on appeal," Smith said.

Neither he nor Hormel will be involved in Savoie's appeal, the attorney said.

Savoie is an indigent defendant, Smith said, and will be assigned counsel from the panel of attorneys representing clients in the Spokane-based state Court of Appeals.

Smith cited two specific difficulties the defense team had during the trial.

First, he said, they were not allowed to present certain evidence during the trial.

Though Smith did not specifically describe the evidence, both he and Hormel repeatedly requested to make arguments someone else killed Craig Sorger, but a ruling by Jorgensen before the trial began prevented that.

Additionally, the defense team was distracted by Jorgensen's decision to provide the victim's parents with a publicly-funded attorney, he said.

Moses Lake-based attorney Garth Dano received the county-funded appointment to defend Craig Sorger's parents, which became a first in the state.

"The involvement of Mr. Dano was a source of frustration," Smith said of the judge's decision.

Knodell's office requested the appointment, after the defense team requested Craig Sorger's mental health records. The defense attorneys also sought to interview, and potentially call as witnesses, mental health care providers regarding the privileged and confidential records.

Prosecutors fought to stop the defense team's investigation.

Knodell summed up Savoie's case, which has kept his office under intense pressure for more than three years.

"This hasn't been easy on anybody," Knodell said. "There really aren't any winners."