BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho prosecutor says he will seek the death penalty against an Idaho inmate accused of killing a man while he was on the run during a 36-hour prison escape.
Skylar Meade, 32, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in prison after pleading guilty to his escape in March from a Boise hospital, where prison officials took him to be treated for self-inflicted injuries. But the first-degree murder charge is from a different county and Meade has not yet had the opportunity to file charges in that case. Meade’s defense attorney, Rick Cuddihy, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman announced Friday that he will seek the death penalty if Meade is convicted in the shooting death of James Mauney.
“After long and careful consideration, I have decided to seek the death penalty in this case,” Coleman wrote in the press release. “The senseless and random murder of Mr. Mauney and the facts surrounding what led to his death justify this determination.”
Meade’s alleged accomplice in the escape, Nicholas Umphenour, 29, was also charged in Mauney’s death and has not yet been given the opportunity to enter a plea. Umphenour is also awaiting trial on charges including aggravated assault and aiding and abetting escape after a judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Umphenour’s defense attorney, Brian Marx, did not immediately respond to a voicemail.
The case began in the early morning hours of March 20, after the Idaho Department of Correction took Meade to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center for treatment of self-inflicted injuries. Prosecutors say that as corrections officers prepared to take Meade back to prison around 2 a.m., an accomplice outside the hospital began shooting.
Nicholas Umphenour shot two of the corrections officers, prosecutors say. A third officer was shot and injured when a fellow officer mistook him for the shooter and opened fire. All three officers survived their injuries.
Meade and Umphenour fled the sceneinvestigators said, first driving several hours to north-central Idaho.
Mauney, an 83-year-old Juliaetta resident, did not return home after walking his dogs on a local trail that morning. Idaho State Police officials said Mauney’s body was found miles away.
The grand jury indictment says Meade is accused of shooting Mauney as he tried to rob the man or assisting someone else in the murder. Police also said Meade and Umphenour are suspects in the death of Gerald Don Henderson, 72, who was found outside his home in a nearby town. Henderson’s death remains under investigation and neither Meade nor Umphenour have been charged.
Police say the men left north-central Idaho shortly after, heading back to the southern half of the state. They were stuck in Twin Falls about 36 hours after the attack on the hospital.
Police described both men as white supremacist gang members who had been incarcerated at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, sometimes housed in the same unit.
At the time of his escape, Meade was serving a 20-year sentence for shooting a sheriff’s sergeant during a high-speed chase. Umphenour was released in January after serving time on charges of robbery and illegal possession of a weapon.
Meade is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on the murder charge.
