TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Skylar Meade was captured last week, after escaping custody in a brazen shootout with police and statewide manhunt. At the time of his escape, he was eight years in to a 20 year sentence.
- Meade's 2016 conviction for aggravated battery on law enforcement with a firearm enhancement began with a high-speed chase while he was on parole for a 2011 conviction.
- Previous convictions include grand theft, possession and introduction of contraband into a correctional facility
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Before the hospital ambush and shootout that led to his three-day escape from custody, Skylar Meade, from Filer, had a history of criminal convictions.
At a March 20 press conference, Boise Chef of Police Ron Winegar gave the first impression of the man who had escaped custody.
“Meade has been serving time in the Idaho Department of correction system for aggravated battery on law-enforcement officer with a firearm enhancement, and he has many prior convictions, including felony possession of controlled substance, grand theft and introduction of contraband into a correctional facility,” Winegar said at the March 20 press conference.
I've learned that the 32-year-old man from Filer has been in the Idaho criminal justice system since he was 18.
At the time of last week's escape, Meade was serving a sentence for a 2016 conviction, when he led sheriff's deputies on a high speed chase through Twin Falls County, firing shots from the window of his car as he fled.
In the arresting affidavit, sheriff's deputy stated that Meade claimed he thought he was being robbed, and claimed that he didn't have a gun, and if deputies were to find a gun, they wouldn't find his fingerprints on it. Initial search of the vehicle resulted in a brown leather holster, ammunition, and a latex glove.
Meade was on parole at the time, having been released earlier that year for a 2011 conviction for theft by possession.
Records show that Meade ultimately pled guilty to the charges, although after his conviction he appealed, claiming ineffective representation from his public defense attorney.
While spending so much time behind bars, Meade has also been charged on at least three occasions for possession of contraband while in jail, twice for methamphetamine, although those charges were later dropped.
While in Twin Falls County jail in 2016, Meade was charged with possession of contraband when detention deputies found a toothbrush that had been sharpened into a shank. Deputies also had record of Meade making statements that injuring deputies would give him clout with the Aryan Knights gang.
