Defense attorneys filing for new trial

EPHRATA — Sentencing for 15-year-old Evan Savoie will not be on June 5, as initially scheduled by Grant County Superior Court Judge Ken Jorgensen.

Savoie, of Ephrata, was convicted by a Grant County jury in late April of first-degree murder for killing 13-year-old Craig Sorger on Feb. 15, 2003, at Ephrata's Oasis Park.

He faces from 20 to 26 years in prison for the killing.

"It got delayed until (June 26), but the judge is not in town on the 26th and so it has to be reset," Randy Smith, a defense attorney for Savoie, said today. "Part of the problem is we haven't seen the pre-sentence report yet."

The new date has not been set.

Savoie's defense attorneys are in the process of filing a motion for a new trial, Smith said, which has contributed to the delayed sentencing.

They decided to seek the new trial for "multiple reasons," Smith said. "Some of them having to do with things that happened at trial, some of them having to do with things that happened before trial."

Specific reasons for the motion have not been "completely fleshed out yet," he said.