No jail time for Yaak man guilty in police pursuit

It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child, but in Caleb Covey’s case it seems it will take a small army of family members, friends and health care workers to keep him from repeating his cycle of endangering the greater Lincoln County community.

Covey, 38, who resides outside of Troy in the Yaak, was in District Court Tuesday afternoon in Libby where visiting Flathead County Judge Amy Eddy determined he would not spend time in custody.

Eddy delivered a 20-year sentence with all time suspended for the defendant who led law enforcement officers from two states and three counties on a wild chase Jan. 13, 2024. Covey also must pay $1,129.94 in restitution to one of the victims who suffered property damage during the incident.

Eddy questioned why it wasn’t more, but Zwang said insurance covered the vast majority of the damages. If Covey does anything illegal or in disregard of his probation terms, he could face time in the state hospital.

“I thought the judge’s ruling was very thoughtful,” Covey attorney Nate Holloway said. “Ultimately, mental health issues are very difficult, but with his family support and medications, things are going well and hopefully it continues.”

Covey pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, April 7 to seven counts of felony criminal mischief and one felony count of criminal endangerment. Other charges were dismissed following the April 3 plea deal between Lincoln County Deputy Attorney Jeff Zwang and Sean Hinchey, Covey’s attorney at the time.

“You hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Zwang said following the hearing. “The level of risk with this defendant, that’s why he has to go to the doctor and his rehab requires his cooperation.”

Covey originally faced decades of confinement at the state hospital in Warm Springs, but the sad state of affairs there played a large role in Eddy’s decision to not give him time in custody.

The beleaguered facility has been the focus of many media accounts detailing its failings that included the deaths of a number of patients.

According to reporting Jan. 28 in the Montana Free Press, the problems came to a head in 2022 when federal investigators yanked the hospital’s federal certification — and funding — from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services because of a pattern of patient deaths found to be preventable, as well as injuries and falls.

“I know you have a long criminal history before your 2015 diagnosis of mental illness, but I find no motivation beyond punishment to send you to Warm Springs,” Eddy said. “The last time I had a defendant who was trying to get placement in the state hospital, it took a year.”

Eddy quizzed Zwang about what would happen to Covey if she sentenced him to confinement. Following that discussion, Eddy seemed ready to ensure Covey wouldn’t spend time in custody.

“It’s been 18 months since the offense and things have changed,” the judge said. “If I sentence him to custody, he’ll sit in the county jail until his placement in the state hospital. Then, sooner or later, he’ll be released. What I don’t want is for his medication to be interrupted and create more issues.”

Zwang argued that despite Covey’s current mental health diagnosis, he deserved time in the Warm Springs facility.

“In 2018, he was harassing his ex-wife when a police pursuit occurred, he’s had multiple pursuits with law enforcement, he’s a clear danger to the public and law enforcement and he’s caused tens of thousands of dollars of damage to citizen’s property,” Zwang argued. “He’s terrorized and endangered this community for a number of years and they deserve a break from this defendant’s actions.”

Covey’s current defense attorney, Nate Holloway, who successfully argued for no incarceration, pointed to a number of factors that he and others believed determined no jail time was warranted.

“I spoke with his doctors and they said the anti-psychotic injections were providing a level of stability that Covey didn’t have when he was taking many pills and the failure to take those pills led to problems,” Holloway said.

The attorney spoke about conversations with Doug Richards and Dr. Michael Breslow. Both work at the Northwest Community Health Center in Libby and wrote letters that are part of the case file explaining their involvement with Covey and their thoughts about his risk of reoffending.

Breslow is a board-certified psychiatrist who has practiced for 37 years, mainly in Arizona at the state Department of Corrections, federal Bureau of Prisons and the Pima County Adult Detention Center.

Dr. Breslow wrote he has treated Covey for the last 14 months for schizophrenia, depression and substance abuse. The physician said he believes a number of factors reduce his risk of committing new offenses.

“An important medication component is a long-acting injectable antipsychotic medication, which is administered every two weeks but stays in the body for four to six weeks after cessation of injections,” Dr. Breslow wrote. “His family support, stable housing and employment reduce his risk of recidivism. So long as he has mandated substance abuse treatment with monitoring, as well as mental health treatment, including medications, I see his risk of recidivism to be low.”

For Richardson, a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor at CHC, he explained in his letter, dated June 10, he’s worked with Covey off and on for nine years.

“I have seen him stable and I have seen him at his worst. He is currently at the most stable point that I have seen him,” Richardson wrote. “If the client can stay on his medication and remain in the care of his psychiatrist as well as behavioral health therapy he should have no difficulty remaining in the community without further behavioral or legal issues.”

In addition, in a Covey’s sentencing recommendation, Holloway wrote about Dr. Michael Scolatti’s evaluation of Covey.

“He (Scolati) evaluated the defendant and found that although he could appreciate the criminality of his behavior, he was unable to conform his behavior to the law based on psychotic delusions and auditory hallucinations.”

Holloway’s argument for a probationary sentence included the fact that Covey lives with his parents, Larry and Pam Covey, and works on their property.

“His mother, Pam Covey, was a nurse and she closely monitors the defendant’s daily activities and prepares and administers his medications every day,” Holloway wrote.

He also explained the team of mental health providers Covey is working with at Community Health Center.

“Dr. Michael Breslow manages the defendant’s medications, Robert O’Rourke is his primary care provider and Douglas Richardson provides mental health and behavioral health therapy,” Holloway wrote.

Holloway also described Covey’s daily routine, including that his family has a shop on their property that he supervises.

“They repair heavy equipment used in wild land firefighting during the summer,” Holloway wrote. “The defendant (Covey) is an integral part of building the business. He has welding, fabricating, mechanical and auto electrical repair skills for maintaining heavy equipment. He has lunch at home, then returns to work until around 8 p.m. He remains at home at night and attends church with his family on the weekends.”

Covey’s run from law enforcement and civilians who tried to derail his vehicular rampage through Libby, south Lincoln County, Sanders County and eastern Idaho, occurred Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024.

The chase began in the late afternoon hours that day after Libby Police Officer Don Luthey was dispatched to a possible hit-and-run collision at a residence on Main Avenue. Luthey received information from Lincoln County Dispatch that a Ford F350 pickup was towing a camouflage colored Toyota pickup. 

The towed truck struck a fence on Main Avenue, then a parked vehicle and a power pole on California Avenue. After hitting the pole, the tow line came loose, but an eyewitness said the man driving the Ford reattached the strap to the Toyota and drove away.

Libby Police Officer Caleb Thomas spoke to the owner of a truck that Covey allegedly stole and drug around Libby. The man said he didn’t know Covey, but a neighbor allegedly told him that Covey’s girlfriend used to live in the man’s home.

The chase ultimately ended just across the Idaho border on Highway 200 when Covey slowed while driving on the winding road with high cliffs to the right and a cement jersey barrier on the left. Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Capt. John Davis, who has since resigned from the department, drove alongside Covey’s vehicle, pushed it sideway where it spun and stopped. He drew his gun and yelled to Covey to get out of the truck. 

According to a statement by Davis in the probable cause affidavit, Covey said he cut this throat in attempt to avoid going to jail.

“How did that not work? This is stupid, how did this not work,” Covey allegedly said to Davis during his arrest. “This was my mission and it didn’t work, I should have been dead.”

Following his hospitalization, Covey was arraigned Feb. 26, 2024, and pleaded not guilty. He was released from custody July 2 after $500,000 bail was posted.

Later that year, on Oct. 24, authorities received the phone call from Covey’s mother that he was acting, “strange.” Covey was returned to the Lincoln County Detention Center Oct. 28 following a report by Probation and Parole Officer Alice Rhodes. According to her report, she received a phone call on Oct. 24 from the defendant’s mother that he was not taking his prescribed medications and was exhibiting strange behavior. 

The report also indicated Covey’s mother believed her son may be having a psychotic break. She also said he was driving his truck in the yard outside their home. According to Covey’s release conditions, he was not allowed to operate a motor vehicle between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. and was required to take all medications prescribed for him.

Covey's past includes two run-ins with law officers dating back to 2015. He was arrested on April 23, 2015 following a domestic disturbance at his home. A plea deal saw two counts of assaulting a peace officer dropped in exchange for a guilty plea to two counts of misdemeanor resisting arrest. That resulted in a suspended sentence in 2016.

Covey received a 10-year sentence, with five suspended, in 2019 following a drunken police chase in September 2018. At some point, Covey was paroled.