Board considers parole bid by North Fork killer

Following a hearing Tuesday, the three-member Board of Pardons and Parole has 21 days to decide whether to grant parole for a man who brutally murdered a North Fork man in 1979.

J.R. Fletcher, who is serving a 100-year prison term, made his case for parole during a hearing Tuesday in Deer Lodge.

Senior parole analyst Julie Thomas said the three-person board has taken Fletcher’s case under advisement and will render a decision within 21 days.

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan testified against Fletcher’s release at the hearing and told the Inter Lake that he didn’t believe parole would be granted.

Fletcher previously was denied parole in 2009 in a unanimous decision by the board. Corrigan testified against Fletcher’s release at that hearing as well.

Fletcher was convicted of deliberate homicide for the torture and murder of Roy Cooper at his Polebridge-area home 35 years ago.   

Thomas said prior to the hearing that her office had received a number of letters and emails opposing Fletcher’s parole.

Montana law states that someone “eligible for parole shall be released when there is a reasonable probability that no detriment will result to him or the community.”

Board members must also consider the best interests of society and whether they believe that the inmate will be able to behave as a law-abiding citizen.

Letters to the parole board can be sent to 1002 Hollenbeck Road, Deer Lodge, MT, 59722 or emailed to Julie Thomas at jpribnow@mt.gov.  

In 1979, Fletcher, his wife and another man were attempting to flee to Canada while on the run from Oklahoma authorities where Fletcher had broken his parole.

The three got stuck in Cooper’s muddy driveway on April 7, 1979, while on their way north. They awakened Cooper, who helped them pull the truck out, and then the three decided to steal Cooper’s horses.

They forced Cooper to saddle the horses and then held him at gunpoint while they burglarized other area homes.

Fletcher, Teresa Jean Fletcher and Ronald L. White then held Cooper hostage in his own home while torturing and robbing him. Fletcher eventually stabbed Cooper to death.

All three were later arrested after a shootout with police officers in Idaho.

When he was convicted, Fletcher threatened to kill Cooper’s family.

Teresa Fletcher was convicted of mitigated deliberate homicide and has since been paroled. White was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and also has been paroled.