Hacking to get six years to life for killing wife

Mark Hacking was sentenced Monday to six years to life in prison for the shooting death of his wife while she slept last July, bringing to a close a murder that shocked Utah and still hasn't been fully explained.

Judge Denise Lindberg listened to nearly two hours of emotional testimony before handing down the only sentence she could under Utah law.

Lindberg said only the parole board could determine how long Hacking will ultimately stay in prison, but that she will recommend that he be held "a very long time."

Mark Hacking, 29, said there was no excuse he could offer for his behavior, and that he'd give a thousand lifetimes in prison if he could to amend for his actions.

"She didn't do nothing but love me unconditionally, even when I didn't deserve it. She was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, but I killed her, and took the life of my unborn child and put them in the garbage and I can't explain why I did it," Hacking said in a halted voice when addressing the judge and family members.

"I put them in the garbage, and they rotted out at the landfill. I'm tormented every waking minute by what I did," he said.

An autopsy of the badly decomposed body could not confirm that Lori Hacking was pregnant, as she had told friends, leaving the state unable to seek the death penalty for aggravating circumstances. Prosecutor Robert Stott said that left insufficient proof for such a charge.

In April, Mark Hacking pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with a brief admission: "I intentionally shot Lori Hacking in the head with a .22 rifle on July 19, 2004."

Utah's system of indeterminate sentences for crimes can be confusing. First-degree murder brings a mandatory five years to life, but Hacking's minimum will be increased to six years because he used a firearm. The judge can only impose the broad range of sentence, leaving it up to Utah's Board of Pardons and Parole to decide when or if Hacking will ever be set free.

Lori Hacking's mother, 67-year-old Thelma Soares, said she felt "shattered and betrayed to the very core. After nearly a year, I can't accept the fact that after shooting her in the head, Mark dumped Lori in the trash."

Lori Hacking's body was found three months later at a landfill. Soares said she was only able to bury 15 pounds of bone fragments and teeth from her 115-pound daughter.

"How could you do that, Mark? How could you do that?" Soares asked Hacking during the hearing.

"I'm sorry," he replied.