Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan says that a man who brutally murdered a Polebridge man in 1979 will remain behind bars.

Corrigan went to Deer Lodge on Tuesday to attend the parole hearing of J.R. Fletcher, who was convicted of stabbing Roy Cooper to death in Polebridge 30 years ago.

Fletcher, his wife and friend escaped from Oklahoma and tried to sneak across the Canadian border when their truck got stuck near Cooper's driveway at Polebridge.

Corrigan says Cooper helped them free their truck, but then they robbed him, bound him to a chair and Fletcher killed him with a knife.

Fletcher's next parole hearing will be in five years. He was sentenced to 100 years in prison.

(from November 30, 2009) The Flathead County attorney says his office and law enforcement are united in keeping a man behind bars who brutally murdered a Polebridge man in 1979.

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan is going to Deer Lodge Tuesday for a parole hearing for J.R Fletcher who stands convicted of stabbing Roy Cooper to death in Polebridge 30 years ago.

Fletcher, his wife and friend escaped from Oklahoma and tried to sneak across the Canadian border when their truck got stuck by Cooper's driveway at Polebridge. Corrigan says Cooper helped them free their truck, but then they robbed him, bound him to a chair and Fletcher killed him with a knife.

This is the second time the county attorney will attend a parole hearing for Fletcher. He will continue to argue against his release for the murder.

Fletcher received a 100-year sentence in the Montana State Prison, but tried to escape in 1981.