Free on own recognizance, Sprinkle must meet rules

After more than five months of lock-up that included time in the Lincoln County Jail and an evaluation at Warm Springs, Gloria Lee Williams Sprinkle is free until her trial.

Sprinkle, 53, was released Wednesday afternoon on her own recognizance. However, in signing the release, 19th Judicial District Judge James B. Wheelis mandated six compliance conditions for her pending trial.

On the Conditions for Release signed by Wheelis at 3:04 p.m. Wednesday, Sprinkle must:

1.) reside in Lincoln County at all times;

2.) have contact with the Western Montana Mental Health Center in Libby at lease once a week;

3.) not have any contact with her neighbors involved in the case;

4.) continue to take all medications currently prescribed to her;

5.) not consume any alcohol, enter any bars where alcohol is the primary item for sale;

6.) stay in weekly contact with her attorney.

Sprinkle is facing felony charges as a result of a standoff against police at her rural Libby home March 26 and 27. She was in Wheelis court on Monday, and Wednesday she released.

“It’s her attorney’s deal,” said Lincoln County Attorney Bernie Cassidy. “We’ve agreed to it. It’s my understanding she’ll be out before dinner.”

Sprinkle pleaded not-guilty in April as a result of the 19-hour standoff that had Lincoln County officers and a SWAT team in an armored vehicle waiting outside the home she shared with her husband, attorney Charles Sprinkle. Sprinkle is charged with three felonies — two counts of assault with a weapon and a third of criminal endangerment.

Her attorney, court-appointed public defender Noel K. Larrivee, urged the court Monday to agree to her release.

“We’re hoping we can (achieve) this by Wednesday of this week,” Larrivee replied to Wheelis when asked about the timing on Monday.

    The 5-foot, 6-inch, 130-pound Sprinkle, previously of 520 Robbe Road, is accused of assaulting her husband initially with pearl-handled kitchen knives, which he was able to take from her. 

   According to the Sheriff’s report of the incident, Gloria Sprinkle then went into a bedroom and retrieved a Winchester model 70 rifle chambered for a .257 Roberts caliber bullet and fired a round in her husband’s presence.

   While the report clearly alleges Sprinkle assaulted her husband with the knives, it avoids stating Sprinkle aimed the rifle at her husband when she discharged one round and then a second in the direction of a neighboring home within a tenth-mile. The report also mentions the shot was fired in the direction of law-enforcement officers in the vicinity of their home who had taken up position at the urging of Charles Sprinkle.

    Charles Sprinkle was in the courtroom on Monday.

Larrivee, Sprinle’s attorney, previously said the case is unique because the victim of her assault is her husband, and she is not to have any contact with him. Initially, with a $500,000 bail set, Sprinkle’s attorney husband is one person who might be able to bond her out, but the release on her own recognizance made bond unnecessary.

Also on Monday, Wheelis agreed to a Sept. 24 omnibus hearing and set Nov. 19 for the pre-trial hearing. A formal trial date will be set later.