LEWISTON, Idaho — An Idaho judge has entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of an escaped inmate accused of killing a man while he was in prison. on the run for 36 hours.
Prosecutors have said they plan to demand the death penalty if Skylar Meade, 32, is convicted of murder in connection with the shooting death of James Mauney. Meade was arraigned Thursday on the charges in Nez Perce County. When asked by 2nd District Judge Michelle Evans if he was ready to enter a plea, Meade’s attorney Anne Taylor said, “Your Honor, he intends to remain silent.”
The right not to plead is a right protected by the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Idaho courts have ruled that when defendants exercise that right, a judge will enter a plea of not guilty on their behalf.
Meade has already been sentenced to life in prison in a separate trial after plead guilty to the March escape from a Boise hospital, where prison officials had taken him on March 20 for treatment of self-inflicted wounds.
Prosecutors said an accomplice began shooting outside the hospital as guards prepared to take Meade back to jail around 2 a.m.
Two of the officers were shot by the accomplice, and a third was shot when an officer mistook him for the gunman and opened fire, police said. All three survived.
Meade and the other man then fledsaid the researchers, who first drove several hours to north-central Idaho.
Mauney, an 83-year-old Juliaetta resident, failed to return home later that morning after walking his dog on a local trail. His body was found miles away.
Police said the two men returned to southern Idaho shortly afterward. They were arrested in Twin Falls.