‘Senseless and random’: Idaho prosecutors will seek death penalty for prison escapee accused of killing Juliaetta man

Nez Perce County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Skylar Meade, the white supremacist gang member accused of killing an 83-year-old Juliaetta man while on the run after an Idaho prison escape.

Meade, a 32-year-old member of the Aryan Knights, was just sentenced to life in prison in July for his role in a prison escape with his alleged accomplice, 29-year-old Nicholas Umphenour. While on the run for 36 hours following a shootout with police, the two drove up and down the state of Idaho committing crimes, according to Idaho State Police.

Among those crimes is believed to be the murder of James Mauney, who was last seen in March while walking his dogs in Juliaetta, a small town northeast of Lewiston. Meade and Umphenour drove Mauney and his dogs to a spot near Leland, where his body was later found in an area of farm fields.

Both men were indicted by a grand jury on his murder in June, in which prosecutors said was the first step in “seeking justice.”

Police also believe the two are responsible for the killing of 72-year-old Gerald “Don” Henderson, whose body was found in his Orofino cabin, along with Mauney’s dogs and Meade’s prison shackles. Henderson was an acquaintance of Umphenour at one point, according to previous reporting from The Spokesman-Review.

Meade was transported from Boise to Nez Perce County on Thursday to face his murder charge. The process was “comprehensively planned” because Meade is considered a high-risk and high-threat inmate, prosecutors said in a news release.

Less than a day later, they filed their intent to seek the death penalty against him.

“After long and careful consideration I have decided to seek the death penalty in this case. The senseless and random killing of Mr. Mauney and the facts surrounding what lead to his death, warrants this determination,” Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman said.

Coleman wrote in his death penalty filing Friday that Meade committed another murder at the time of Mauney’s death; that he exhibited an utter disregard for human life; the murder was committed with reckless indifference to human life; and he is a continuing threat to society.

Under Idaho law, prosecutors must file their intent to seek the death penalty against a defendant within 60 days of them entering a plea. In Meade’s case, prosecutors filed well before his scheduled arraignment. Meade’s case is now the third high-profile death penalty case in Idaho in the last three years – in 2021, prosecutors sought the death penalty against Chad Daybell, who killed his wife’s two children and buried them in his backyard. He was sentenced to death in June.

Latah County prosecutors also filed to seek the death penalty last year against Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death in November 2022 at an off-campus home.

Both Mauney and Henderson’s killings took place during the two-day manhunt that began when Meade started cutting himself at the maximum security prison south of Boise, where he was serving a minimum 10-year sentence for shooting at a member of law enforcement during a police chase.

Under guard by corrections officers, Meade was transported to Boise’s Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center for treatment. This was all part of a plan to break Meade out of prison – Umphenour and Meade were texting each other, planning the escape, according to reporting from the Idaho Statesman.

Their texts involved discussions about which guards would be carrying weapons and how to get enough ammunition. At one point, Meade said the two would only kill officers if they “had to.”

After he was treated, the officers were about to escort Meade back to prison when Umphenour ambushed them, shooting and injuring two of them from the ambulance bay of the hospital, police said at the time.

Meade and Umphenour then escaped in a gray Honda Civic. A third guard was shot at the hospital by responding police officers who mistook him as an armed suspect.

The two were apprehended 36 hours later in Twin Falls, Idaho, about two hours southeast of Boise.

Meade will appear before a Nez Perce County judge on Aug. 8 for the killing of Mauney. Umphenour stood silent during his plea and is awaiting his October trial in Ada County. Neither man has been indicted by a Clearwater County grand jury so far in Henderson’s death.