Parole board listens to North Fork murderer's plea

The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole held a parole hearing on Nov. 25 for the Oklahoma man who tortured and then murdered a North Fork man in 1979.

The three-member board will take J.R. Fletcher’s case under advisement and render a decision within 21 days, senior parole analyst Julie Thomas said.

Fletcher was convicted of deliberate homicide and sentenced to 100 years in prison for torturing and murdering 72-year-old Roy Cooper at his Polebridge-area home 35 years ago.

In a unanimous decision in 2009, the three-member board cited the severe nature of his crime, his criminal history and the detriment to society and Fletcher himself in denying his parole request.

Flathead Count Attorney Ed Corrigan traveled to the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge to testify against Fletcher’s release. Corrigan also testified against Fletcher’s release in 2009.

Thomas said her office received a number of letters and e-mails before the hearing that opposed granting Fletcher parole.

In April 1979, Fletcher, his wife Teresa Jean Fletcher and a man named Ronald L. White were on the run from Oklahoma, where Fletcher had broken parole. While fleeing to Canada through the North Fork Valley, the three got stuck in Cooper’s muddy driveway in Polebridge. They’d been drinking and using drugs and woke up Cooper for assistance.

Cooper was helping them pull their truck out when the three decided to steal Cooper’s horses and ride to Canada. They forced Cooper to saddle the horses and then held him at gunpoint while they burglarized homes in Polebridge.

The three then held Cooper hostage in his own home, while torturing and robbing him. Fletcher eventually stabbed Cooper, who died from knife wounds to his neck.

Eventually realizing that reaching Canada via the North Fork was a bad idea, the three traveled west, ending up in Idaho where they were arrested following a shoot-out with police officers. Authorities linked the three to Cooper’s murder after they were found holding items from the dead man’s home.

Fletcher threatened to kill Cooper’s family when he was convicted. His plea agreement allowed him to avoid the death penalty.

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