LA CROSSE, Wis. (WXOW) – Not guilty.
That was the verdict for Erik Sackett in his 1st-Degree Intentional Homicide trial in a La Crosse County courtroom in the death in June 2018 of Erin Somvilai.
Jurors went back to select a jury foreman and begin the deliberation process around 11:15 a.m. Thursday morning following closing arguments.
They returned a verdict around 4:25 p.m.
Jurors heard about a week and a half’s worth of testimony from and arguments from attorneys before they returned their verdict.
Sackett has remained jailed since 2018 in Somvilai’s death. Her body was found in Runge Hollow Lake in Vernon County near where Sackett owned a cabin.
Police and prosecutors contended that he never told police he owned a cabin near where Somvilai was found was one of the elements in the case against him.
His attorneys however, were able to convince jurors that either Somvilai killed herself or that another person committed the crime. He also told jurors when asked by his attorney Christopher Zachar, “Did you kill Erin Somvilai?, Erik Sackett said, “No, I did not.”
Sackett admitted later when questioned by La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, after being caught lying about what he’d said to investigators, “I don’t tell the truth about everything…that doesn’t make me a murderer.”
MORE: Coverage of the Sackett Trial
