Although Savoie and Eakin both claimed innocence, they were charged with first-degree murder and tried as adults. In February 2005, The Washington Supreme Court upheld the decision to try the boys as adults by declining to hear the case. At twelve-years-old, they became the youngest murder defendants tried as adults in the state since 1931. Eakin confessed to his role in the killing in 2005, after spending 26 months in jail awaiting trial. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder by complicity and agreed to testify as a witness against Savoie. Prosecutors agreed to request a relatively light sentence of eight years in prison in exchange for the guilty plea. Grant County Superior Court Judge Ken Jorgensen ruled that there were no mitigating factors to allow for such a sentence and instead gave Eakin a mid-range sentence of 14 years.