Idaho prosecutor says he’ll seek death penalty against inmate accused of killing while on the lam
FILE - In this photo made from body camera footage and released by the Twin Falls, Idaho, Police Department, Skylar Meade, right, is arrested in Twin Falls on Thursday, March 21, 2024. An Idaho prosecutor says he will seek the death penalty against an Idaho inmate charged with killing a man while he was on the lam during a 36-hour escape from prison. (Twin Falls Police Department via AP, File)
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho prosecutor says he will seek the death penalty against an Idaho inmate charged with killing a man while he was on the lam during a 36-hour escape from prison.
Skylar Meade, 32, has already been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the March escape from a Boise hospital, where prison officials had taken him for treatment of self-inflicted injuries. But the first-degree murder charge is in a different county, and Meade has not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea 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 killing of Mr. Mauney and the facts surrounding what lead to his death, warrants this determination.”
Meade’s alleged accomplice in the escape, Nicholas Umphenour, 29, has also been indicted in connection with Mauney’s death, and had not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea. Umphenour is also awaiting trial on charges including aggravated battery 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 voice message.
The case began in the early morning hours of March 20 after the Idaho Department of Correction brought Meade to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center for treatment of self-inflicted injuries. Prosecutors say that as correctional officers prepared to take Meade back to the prison around 2 a.m., an accomplice outside the hospital began shooting.
Nicholas Umphenour shot two of the correctional officers, prosecutors say. A third officer was shot and injured when a fellow police officer mistook him for the shooter and opened fire. All three of the officers survived their injuries.
Meade and Umphenour fled the scene, investigators said, first driving several hours to north-central Idaho.
Mauney, an 83-year-old Juliaetta resident, didn’t return home from walking his dogs on a local trail later that morning. Idaho State Police officials said Mauney’s body was found miles away.
The grand jury indictment says Meade is accused of either shooting shooting Mauney as he tried to rob the man or aiding another person in the killing. Police have also said that Meade and Umphenour are suspects in the death of Gerald Don Henderson, 72, who was found outside of 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 not long after, heading back to the southern half of the state. They were arrested in Twin Falls roughly 36 hours after the hospital attack.
Police described both men as white supremacist gang members who had been incarcerated at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, at times housed in the same unit.
At the time of the escape, Meade was serving a 20-year sentence for shooting at a sheriff’s sergeant during a high-speed chase. Umphenour was released in January after serving time on charges of grand theft and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Meade is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on the murder charge.