Hacking waives preliminary hearing

Mark Hacking, accused of killing his wife Lori while she slept and dumping her body in a trash bin, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday.

"Yes, your honor," Hacking told Judge William Barrett when asked he understood what it meant to give up a preliminary hearing, which is essentially acknowledging that the state has enough evidence against him to proceed with a murder trial. Hacking wore handcuffs and a bulletproof vest over his yellow jail jumpsuit.

Those were the only three words Hacking said during the short hearing, attended by most of his family members and Lori's father, Eraldo Soares. A conference hearing was scheduled Oct. 29, when a trial date could be set.

Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Robert Stott said there have been no plea negotiations so far.

Even though Lori Hacking's body and a weapon haven't been recovered, Stott said he was prepared to proceed with the murder case based on other evidence and Mark Hacking's alleged confession to his brothers.

"We would hope he wouldn't lie to his brothers," Stott said.

Hacking's lawyer, Gil Athay, did not speak to reporters as he left the courtroom. Stott said prosecutors knew on Wednesday that Hacking would waive his right to the hearing.

Soares met with victim's advocates from the district attorney's office for more than an hour after the hearing, and swept past a horde of reporters and onto an elevator guarded by Salt Lake County Sheriff's deputies without offering much comment.

Hacking, a 28-year-old former hospital orderly, is being held in jail on a first-degree murder charge, unable to raise $1 million bail.

Hacking allegedly confessed to his brothers that he shot his 27-year-old wife in the head with a .22-caliber firearm while she slept, then threw the body and gun in separate trash bins.

Authorities believe Lori Hacking was killed after she learned her husband wasn't enrolled in medical school in North Carolina, even though they were packing to move there.

Hacking also has been charged with obstructing justice, accused of throwing Lori's body, the gun and a bloody mattress in separate trash bins.

Because his alleged confession came in a psychiatric ward where Hacking was treated for 13 days after his wife disappeared, Athay has suggested he might try an insanity defense.

Hacking was checked into the ward after police found him running naked outside a Salt Lake hotel.

Volunteers last week began hand searching part of the landfill for Lori Hacking's body amid 4,600 tons of trash, all the refuse dumped at a landfill the day Hacking's husband reported her missing July 19.

Salt Lake City Police Detective Dwayne Baird on Thursday said if her body is in the landfill, they will find it.

Cooler weather allowed the human search after intermittent searches of the landfill debris by cadaver dogs did not produce a body.