BILLINGS - After listening to a prosecutor list the number of convictions and the number of court orders he has violated, a judge doubled the requested bond amount for a man accused of causing the death of a Billings motorcyclist while fleeing from law enforcement.
Yellowstone County District Court Judge Jessica Fehr set bond at $1 million for Jimmy Joe Flanagan on Wednesday during an arraignment hearing. Prosecutors had requested a bond of $500,000.
"That is the highest bond I set," Fehr told Flanagan during the hearing. "And you have earned it."
Flanagan pleaded not guilty to seven felony offenses, including vehicular homicide while under the influence. He also faces four counts of criminal endangerment and one count of fleeing from or eluding a peace officer causing bodily injury or death.
Flanagan, 42, has a lengthy criminal record that includes felony convictions in both Yellowstone and Lewis and Clark counties. Most recently, Flanagan was charged in Yellowstone County with a felony drug offense and was on pretrial release at the time of the fatal crash, prosecutors said. He also has numerous bench warrants for disregarding court orders and was previously terminated from a drug treatment court, prosecutors said at the hearing.
Fehr said she set the high bond amount to reflect Flanagan's disregard for court orders and the threat he poses to the community as evident in the most recent crime.
"Now there is an innocent individual who is dead," the judge said.
Flanagan was arrested Monday evening after he allegedly failed to stop for Yellowstone County deputies when he was spotted towing a stolen excavator on the highway. Prosecutors and law enforcement officials said Flanagan tried to elude the deputies by speeding into Billings where he lost control of the trailer and the excavator tumbled into traffic near MetraPark.
No one was injured at that point, but moments later as Flanagan allegedly continued to flee he ran a stop sign at the intersection of North 20th Street and Fourth Avenue North.
The pickup truck driven by Flanagan slammed into a motorcycle on Fourth Avenue North, killing the 28-year-old rider immediately. His name has not yet been released.
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