Parole denied again for killer

More than five years after his last attempt, Richard Sweet’s parole request again has been denied.

Sweet is in prison for the 1993 murders of his two young children.

The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole voted unanimously Wednesday to keep Sweet, 56, behind bars for at least six more years. All three board members not only agreed that he should not be released on parole, but that his next opportunity to make the request be as long as is allowed by law.

On Sept. 8, 1993, Sweet shot his daughter Anna, 8, and son Erik, 6, twice in the head with a .22-caliber rifle before wrapping their bodies in their dinosaur sleeping bags and burying them in a shallow grave in a remote forested area south of Libby.

He eventually was convicted of two counts of mitigated deliberate homicide and sentenced on Sept. 2, 1994, to 40 years in prison.

Parole Board Chairman Mike McKee said none of the board members were familiar with Sweet, whose last request for parole was denied in January 2009, or his case.

“So we said we wanted him to describe the crime, describe the shooting of these children,” McKee said. “He refused to answer, and that made pretty short work of the hearing.”

McKee said the hearing lasted about 10 minutes.

He said there was “significant opposition” to Sweet’s parole, including eight to 10 letters from other relatives and friends of his former wife as well as family members and a last-minute letter from Lincoln County Attorney Bernie Cassidy.

According to McKee, Sweet was represented by his nephew, who supported his release as did another of Sweet’s relatives.

Sweet will again have an opportunity to request parole in 2020.

Jessie Davis writes for The Daily Inter Lake.