Boys Tried in Disabled Playmate's Slaying

E P H R A T A, Wash., March 17, 2004 -- Chuck Sorger doesn't know the two young boys accused of killing his son, Craig, a 13-year-old special education student who was beaten and stabbed 34 times.

But the troubled father says the boys deserve to be tried as adults. 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," Sorger said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.

Jake Eakin and Evan Savorie 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. He had been beaten and stabbed 34 times.

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

‘It Was Planned’

The boys deny that they were involved in the February 2003 killing. But police say the boys' stories do not match up, and that the victim's blood was found on their clothing.

Sorger keeps his son's ashes by his side in a small wooden box. He was relieved when Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz ruled the two suspects should be tried as adults.

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

"It was huge," Sorger said. "It wasn't just a couple of boys playing and something happened. It seemed to me it was planned."

Sorger said his late son was a gentle boy who loved people.

"To sum up Craig, I would say that he was a very loving child. He loved hugs more than anything," Sorger said.

Accused Boys’ Families Show Support

The families of the accused boys support their claims of innocence.

"It's really rough. He's just a baby," said Phyllyis LaMear, Eakin's grandmother.

Sorger says he saw Eakin and Savorie 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.

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

The two 13-year-old boys 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. 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.

ABCNEWS' Neal Karlinsky reported this story on Good Morning America.