Nicholas Umphenour, 29, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to charges related to a violent ambush at a Boise hospital in which two Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) officers were shot , and a third was assaulted.
Umphenour aided in the escape of IDOC inmate Skylar Meade during that March 20 incident at Saint Alphonsus. Meade is currently serving a life sentence for his role in the events. Both men have also been indicted for additional crimes following the escape, including a murder charge in Nez Perce County.
Umphenour pleaded guilty to six charges, including three counts of assault or battery on law enforcement, unlawful possession of a firearm, and use of a firearm in a crime.
Evidence presented at the sentencing hearing included text messages and phone calls, where Umphenour discussed the planned ambush with Meade, and showed a lack of remorse about shooting the officers, whom he referred to as “pigs.”
Judge Baskin, in delivering the sentence, characterized Umphenour’s life of criminal actions as those of a “career criminal,” noting his disregard for human life and society at large. Judge Baskin referenced a phone conversation, presented in evidence, in which Umphenour made a joke about a previous moose poaching incident, and then referred to shooting the officers in a similar manner.