Idaho inmate gets life sentence for escaping state custody at Boise hospital

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho inmate was sentenced Friday to life in prison for escaping state custody at a Boise hospital after the corrections officers guarding him were violently attacked.

Skylar Meade pleaded guilty to the escape and to sentencing enhancement for being a persistent violator and for causing bodily injury during the crime earlier this year. Fourth District Judge Nancy Baskin also sentenced him to another five years for possession of a controlled substance and having contraband in a prison.

Meade must serve 35 years for those charges before he can be considered for parole.

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. As correctional officers prepared to take Meade back to the prison around 2 a.m., an accomplice outside the hospital began shooting, prosecutors say.

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 before heading back to the southern half of the state, where they were arrested 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, 31, 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.

Umphenour is charged with three counts of aggravated battery on law enforcement officers, using a firearm during a crime and aiding and abetting escape, all felonies. He stood silent when asked to enter a plea to those charges in May and the judge subsequently entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. He is scheduled to stand trial on those charges in October.

Both men also were indicted in June in Nez Perce County on murder charges in connection with the death of 83-year-old James Mauney of Juliaetta, Idaho. The Idaho State Police said Mauney’s remains were found near Leland, Idaho. State police are still investigating the death of another man in the area that they say may be connected to the case.

Neither Meade's nor Umphenour's defense attorneys immediately responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

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Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.