Missoula man pleads guilty to killing friend, dumping body off Triple Bridges

By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Missoulian | Posted: Thursday, April 22, 2010 6:15 am

The 24-year-old Missoula man accused of fatally stabbing his friend and roommate pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of negligent homicide and evidence tampering.

Cyril Kenneth Richard II was initially charged with a count of deliberate homicide for killing Michael J. Meadows in the early morning hours of Feb. 21, 2008. Richard dumped the body off a bridge that spans the Clark Fork River west of Missoula, and tried to clean up the bloody crime scene at the Copper Run Apartments, off Mullan Road near Reserve Street.

A plea bargain in the case will reduce the charge from deliberate to negligent homicide, but it does not stipulate an agreed-upon sentence. Instead, the plea agreement gives the prosecution and defense leeway in recommending disparate sentences.

Deputy Missoula County Attorney Andrew Paul has agreed to recommend a term of no more than 40 years in the Montana State Prison, while defense attorney Milt Datsopoulos will ask for a 40-year prison sentence, with the entire term suspended.

Datsopoulos said he intends to present testimony from character witnesses at a three-hour sentencing hearing on June 16, and Fourth Judicial District Judge Ed McLean will impose whatever punishment he deems appropriate.

Earlier this year, Datsopoulos notified the court of his intent to mount a self-defense case for his client, who was scheduled to go to trial on Friday. A notice of Richard's intent to plead guilty was filed Monday, and the trial was vacated.

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During an initial interview with police, Richard said Meadows, 31, attacked him with a pocket knife in the throes of a drunken argument, according to charging documents. Richard wrested the knife away from Meadows and slashed him across the abdomen when Meadows lunged at him again, he told police, then fell backward, breaking his right arm. He told investigators that he only fought back in self-defense.

Richard said he wrapped his friend's body in a blanket, dragged it down two flights of stairs and loaded it into the hatchback of his green 2001 Subaru Outback, according to records. He then drove about 30 miles west of town and pushed the body off one of the Triple Bridges, near Fish Creek.

A resident of Copper Run called 9-1-1 after she noticed the bloody drag trail and saw Richard scrubbing the stairway outside his apartment.

Although Richard had a broken arm and cuts on his chest and hands to support the self-defense claims, he's remained jailed on a half-million-dollar bail ever since his arrest, mostly because of the extent of his efforts to conceal the crime and hide his friend's body.

Investigators also turned up evidence that contradicted Richard's version of events, including surveillance video recorded by a convenience store security camera after the fight is supposed to have occurred. The video showed Richard opening a door with his injured arm and leaning against a counter.

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Authorities recovered Meadows' body in April 2008 after a fisherman spotted the remains in the Clark Fork River several miles downstream from Tarkio in Mineral County.

According to Meadows' friends and family members, he and Richard met while living in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in the summer of 2007. When Richard moved to Missoula to enroll at the University of Montana, Meadows decided to go, too.

Meadows had been living in Richard's apartment for several weeks, turning in job applications at gas stations and fast food restaurants in the area, until the night of the stabbing.

The men were hanging out at Richard's apartment, drinking and watching basketball on television. They struck out for a bowling alley, then bought some beer at a store and headed back to the apartment, according to charging papers.

At some point, Richard apparently became angry because Meadows was unemployed and had not been pitching in for rent or other living expenses, and an argument ensued. Richard told detectives the argument grew heated, and Meadows lunged at him with a pocket knife. Richard was able to take the knife away from his friend, he told police, but Meadows again lunged at him, this time while unarmed, and Richard stabbed him in the abdomen in self-defense.

From: http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/article_4472a18e-4d7c-11df-88f8-001cc4c002e0.html