Tell truth, Hacking told

Paul Soares doesn't want to see his brother-in-law Mark Hacking go to trial. He wants a swift resolution to the months of pain his family has endured. He wants Hacking to plead guilty to the allegations that he shot and killed his wife, Lori Hacking, Paul's sister.

"Save your family the grief and cost of this attorney. Just plead guilty for once. Just tell the truth. Take responsibility for your actions," Soares implored in a letter he sent to Mark Hacking in jail. "Your father said you were determined to do what is right — even if it costs you your life. . . . Just tell the judge the truth. Admit it. Don't ask for some lenient plea bargain. Be a man."

Soares may not get what he wants.

Hacking will be arraigned on murder and obstruction-of-justice charges in 3rd District Court today. He is expected to enter a plea of not guilty. His attorney, D. Gilbert Athay, did not return a telephone message from the Deseret Morning News.

In news reports, Athay has said he plans to take the case to trial and may challenge the alleged confession Hacking made to his brothers while hospitalized in the days police still considered Lori Hacking a missing person.

So far there has been no conversation about a plea agreement, Salt Lake County prosecutor Robert Stott said.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in the case, but Hacking could spend the rest of his life in prison if given the maximum sentence for a first-degree felony. He is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail on $1 million bail.

Lori Hacking was first reported missing July 19 by her husband, who said his wife had not returned from a morning jog. Salt Lake police say Lori Hacking never went for that run and instead was shot and killed by her husband as she slept. Hacking then allegedly left his wife's body and the .22-caliber rifle he used in the killing in separate Dumpsters near the University of Utah.

Mark Hacking has reportedly confessed the crime to his brothers, who then took that information to police.

A team of police officers and firefighters located Lori Hacking's body at the Salt Lake Valley landfill on Oct. 1.

An autopsy conducted on Lori Hacking's remains was inconclusive for both a cause of death and pregnancy. Mark told police and the couple's family that she recently learned she was five weeks pregnant.

Prosecutors believe Lori Hacking was killed because she had discovered her husband had spun a web of lies about graduating from the U. in June and being accepted to medical school in North Carolina, where the couple was preparing to move.

Soares had originally asked Mark Hacking to plead guilty during a preliminary hearing slated for Sept. 23. Hacking waived the hearing and was bound over on the charges.