YAKIMA – A teenager serving 14 years in prison as an accomplice in the murder of a playmate wrote a letter of confession not because he killed the Ephrata boy, but to ease jailhouse pressure at the juvenile facility where he is being held, his lawyer said Friday.
Jake Eakin, now 15, has been incarcerated at Green Hill School in Chehalis since May 2, 2005, days after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder by complicity in the Feb. 15, 2003, slaying of Craig Sorger. Sorger, 13, was found beaten and stabbed 34 times in an Ephrata recreational vehicle park.
As part of a plea deal with Grant County prosecutors, Eakin testified against another teenager, Evan Savoie, who was charged with first-degree murder as an adult. A jury convicted Savoie, now also 15, earlier this year, and Eakin’s testimony was considered key to the case.
Corrections officials transferred Savoie from a facility in Grant County to Green Hill on July 13. His mother received the letter from Eakin two days later.
“The bottom line is, Jake doesn’t want to be a snitch,” said Michele Shaw, Eakin’s Seattle attorney. “There’s no way in the world that Jake could have killed Craig Sorger.”
Savoie’s attorneys appealed his conviction earlier this week. On Thursday, they filed a declaration with Eakin’s letter, asking a judge to set aside the conviction and 26-year sentence.
“The prosecutor felt he was credible enough to testify at my son’s trial,” Savoie’s mother, Holly Parent, said Friday of Eakin. “So I think they should weigh this about the same as they do that.”
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