The inmate accused of coordinating an ambush at a Boise hospital that led to his escape and the shooting of three Idaho State Prison officers pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of avoiding a jury trial.
Later this month he must answer for a whole series of crimes.
Skylar Meade, 32, who was serving a minimum 10-year sentence at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution outside Boise, pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal to an enhanced sentence for causing bodily harm during the escape — which increases the minimum prison sentence. In exchange, an enhanced sentence for crimes related to his alleged involvement with a white supremacist gang was rejected.
Meade, who was taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in March by three prison guards for self-inflicted wounds, escaped from the Boise hospital after alleged accomplice Nicholas Umphenhour, 29, shot two of the officers as they loaded Meade into a prison van, according to police testimony at an April hearing. The third officer was shot and wounded by a Boise police officer.
All officers survived.
The men, who police say are members of a prison gang known as the Aryan Knights, fled and drove to northern Idaho. There, they are suspected of killing two men, but have only been charged with one murder so far. They were arrested by police the next day near Twin Falls.
Meade pleaded guilty in May — without a plea agreement — to a felony charge of prison escape and an enhanced sentence of being a persistent offender, a charge that prosecutors can add when someone is convicted of three felonies. It adds at least another five years in prison, with a maximum of life.
Meade did not plead the other charges during the May 15 hearing. As a result, 4th District Judge Nancy Baskin scheduled a hearing for June, giving prosecutors more time to decide whether to charge Meade or drop the remaining charges, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.
Ada County Prosecutor Heather Reilly told the court at that June hearing that if no deal was reached, the prosecution planned to take Meade to trial. Robert Chastain, one of Meade’s attorneys, asked Baskin for additional time to consider the offer.
Meade’s sentencing on all of his outstanding crimes is now scheduled for July 19, as his cases were consolidated in court Tuesday. He also pleaded guilty to a drug charge and a trafficking charge for having methamphetamine in prison.
At the time of his escape, Meade was in prison for assault on a police officer, drug possession, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Umphenhour is expected to appear in a jury trial in October on six felony charges, including several assault charges and a continuing trespass charge, court records show. Baskin pleaded not guilty on his behalf in May after Umphenhour remained silent, a tactic in which a defendant refuses to enter a plea, leaving the judge to do so for him, according to previous reports.
Idaho State Police investigation into northern Idaho murder continues
Once Meade’s charges in Ada County are finalized, he will likely be taken to the Nez Perce County Jail to face a charge of first-degree murder. Shortly after Meade and Umphenour were arrested in March, police announced that the men were suspects in two murders.
After fleeing the Boise area, Meade and Umphenour encountered James Mauney, 83, in Juliaetta, north of Lewiston, while he was walking his dogs, Idaho State Police said. His body was later found in a deserted area. That same day, officers from neighboring Clearwater County found the body of Gerald “Don” Henderson, 72, in his cabin outside Orofino. Police said cuffs belonging to Meade and Mauney’s dogs were found inside the cabin.
Meade and Umphenour were indicted by a Nez Perce grand jury in mid-June and charged with first-degree murder in Mauney’s death, according to the Nez Perce County District Attorney’s Office. Grand jury proceedings are not open to the public, even for those accused of the crimes, giving prosecutors the ability to indict someone while bypassing a preliminary hearing.
“Nez Perce County does not anticipate any updates until the suspects are transported and appear in our court,” Nez Perce District Attorney Justin Coleman said in a statement to the Statesman.
There is little additional information about the charges, as their cases have not been released and are not available in the state’s online public court system. Meade and Umphenour are also suspected of killing Henderson, but have not yet been charged in that death.
“This matter remains under investigation,” Idaho State Police said in an earlier news release.
