Adult Penalty for Boys Charged in Playmate's Murder

E P H R A T A, Wash., March 19, 2004 -- As two 13-year-old boys get ready to face the possibility of 20 years in jail, their relatives say the sentence would be too harsh for boys who can't understand the complex world of crime and punishment.

Jake Eakin and Evan Savoie, both 13, will likely be tried as adults in the death of a developmentally disabled boy.

Eakin's mother, Tammy Vickery, says she can't believe her son will have to face an adult sentence when he doesn't have the ability to process information on an adult level.

"We do a lot of explaining to him because he is so young and doesn't comprehend," Vickery said. "I have a hard time understanding everything that's going on, so I can't expect him to understand everything that's going on."

Eakin and Savoie were just 12 when investigators say they killed Craig Sorger after playing with him that day. His body was found in a park in the small community of Ephrata, about 100 miles west of Spokane. The 13-year-old special education student had been beaten and stabbed 34 times.

Pam Leseman, Savoie's aunt, says she believes the boys are innocent because they apparently seemed shocked by the photos of Sorger shown in court.

"He [Savoie] told his mom that the boy did not look that way when he left that day. It was totally different from when they left," Leseman said.

A medical examiner said Sorger, who had mental and physical disabilities, had been beaten and repeatedly stabbed so severely the tip of a knife was left in his skull.

Vickery says her son has convinced her that he had nothing to do with the boy's death.

"He has talked to us about what went on over there. What he has explained to me is that he couldn't have done this," Vickery said.

But police say the boys' stories do not match up, and that the victim's blood was found on their clothing. The boys said they got Sorger's blood on their clothes after they checked on the boy after he fell out of a tree.

Meanwhile, Sorger's father said he was relieved when Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz ruled the two suspects should be tried as adults. Chuck Sorger says the sentencing guidelines in the juvenile system would not allow a proper punishment.

"In the state of Washington, they're supposed to be released at age 21. For a crime like this, it's just not long enough. So we were forced to hopefully get the adult court ruling," Chuck Sorger said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America earlier this week.

In a 42-page decision, Antosz said that there were no programs in the state's juvenile justice system that would likely rehabilitate the pair if they are convicted.

After the boys entered their pleas, Antosz accepted the motion by Savoie's attorney, Randy Smith, that he remove himself from the case.

While Smith argued that the judge's ruling called his impartiality into question, Antosz said he still presumed the boys to be innocent, regardless of the ruling to try them as adults.

Attorneys for the two boys have asked the state Court of Appeals to look into the judge's decision to try them as adults.

Occasional Playmates

Leseman, Savoie's aunt, said the accused boys weren't very close to Craig Sorger.

"They just lived by each other so they played occasionally together in the park," Leseman said.

Sorger says he saw Eakin and Savoie for the first time in court. He and his wife said they don't know whether the boys had been harassing Craig before he was found dead. However, Sorger says that one of the boys threw a baseball at Craig's younger brother about a year before Craig was killed.

Vickery says her heart goes out to Sorger's family.

"I hope that justice is done for their son. But, I think they're looking at the wrong children for this. I'm very sorry that this has happened to them," Vickery said.

Eakin and Savoie are reportedly the youngest people to face trial as adults in the state of Washington. Both of them have pleaded not guilty.In court, both boys were handcuffed and shackled when they entered their pleas. If tried and convicted as juveniles they would face detention until the age of 21. As it is, they are each looking at more than 20 years in prison if convicted.