LEWISTON, Idaho — An Idaho judge has entered a not guilty plea on behalf of an escaped prisoner charged with killing a man while he was on the lam for 36 hours.

Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty if Skylar Meade, 32, is convicted of the murder charge in connection with the shooting death of James Mauney. Meade was arraigned on the charge in Nez Perce County on Thursday. When 2nd District Judge Michelle Evans asked if he was ready to enter a plea, Meade’s defense attorney Anne Taylor said, “your honor, he intends to stand silent.”

Declining to enter a plea is a right that is protected by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and Idaho court rules state that when defendants exercise that right, a judge will enter a not guilty plea on their behalf.

Meade has already been sentenced to life in prison in a separate court case after pleading guilty to the March escape from a Boise hospital, where prison officials had taken him for treatment of self-inflicted injuries March 20.

Prosecutors say that as correctional officers prepared to take Meade back to the prison around 2 a.m. that day, an accomplice outside the hospital began shooting.

Two of the officers were shot by the accomplice, and a third was shot when a police officer mistook him for the shooter and opened fire, according to police. All three survived.

Meade and the other man then fled, investigators said, first driving several hours to north-central Idaho.

Mauney, an 83-year-old Juliaetta resident, didn’t return home from walking his dogs on a local trail later that morning, and his body was found miles away.

Police say that soon after, the two men headed back to southern Idaho. They were arrested in Twin Falls.

— Associated Press

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Steve Symms, a Republican who represented Idaho for four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the U.S. Senate, died Thursday. He was 86.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little has ordered all U.S. and state of Idaho flags to be lowered until sunrise on Aug. 12 to honor his service to the state. Symms served in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1981 and in the U.S. Senate from from 1981-1993. Symms unseated four-term Democratic Sen. Frank Church in the 1980 election.

Born on April 23, 1938, in Canyon County, Symms attended public schools and graduated from Caldwell High School before going on to graduate from the University of Idaho in 1960, according to the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1960-1963 and worked as a private pilot and fruit rancher.

“Senator Steve Symms was a true patriot — a military veteran and dedicated public servant whose roots in agriculture helped informed his decisions back in D.C. representing Idaho’s interests,” Little said in a news release issued Friday. “A conservative who was elected during the ‘Reagan Revolution,’ Steve Symms routinely pushed back on government overreach, stood up for the working people of Idaho, and defended the freedoms we hold dear as Americans. God bless this fighter for Idaho values.”

Little said he and his wife, Teresa, share their condolences for the family and friends of Symms.

U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said in an emailed statement that Symms was a friend to him and his wife, Vicki, and that they also extend their condolences to the family.

“He was a staunch defender of conservative values in Washington, D.C., for the people of Idaho,” Risch said. “His commitment to Idaho and conservative principles has stood as an inspiration for our state leaders. We will never forget the great day President Reagan came to Boise to rally for Steve’s reelection to the Senate. What a team they were.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said in a statement posted on social media that he and his wife Kathy “are deeply saddened” by the death of Symms.

“Steve was an exceptional public servant whose dedicated years of service and unwavering commitment to Idahoans have left a lasting legacy on our state,” Simpson wrote.