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 bail amount for Jimmy Joe Flanagan, who is accused of causing the death of motorcyclist Julian Wolf while fleeing from law enforcement.
Yellowstone County District Court Judge Jessica Fehr set bail at $1 million for Jimmy Joe Flanagan on Wednesday during an arraignment hearing.
Prosecutors had requested that bail be set at $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.
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Flanagan, 42 years old, has a criminal record that includes felony convictions in both Yellowstone and Lewis & 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 by 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 28-year old Wolf.
A small memorial has been set up near the site of the crash and on Wednesday, friends and family of Wolf gathered to pay their respects.
"He was genuinely one of the best people I've ever met," said Wolf's girlfriend Trinity Jones between tears. "I really think if you ask anyone who knew him, they'd agree."
"He was a real good dude," said Wolf's friend Richard Russiff. "He was a great leader."
All who gathered on Wednesday had nothing but great things to say about Wolf.
"If you got to know him, you were gravitated to him instantly," said Wolf's friend Daniel Martin. "He was very charismatic, very loving and a very caring person."
"He was trustworthy, loyal and independent," said Wolf's friend Erik Groblebe. "He had his life put together and a lot of things going for him."
But of all those who spoke with MTN Wednesday, none knew Wolf better than his younger brother Zane McCracken.
"I feel empty," McCracken said. "I feel lost. I'm sad. I'm angry. He was like a father to me."
Wolf's girlfriend Trinity Jones added that hearing about his death felt like a nightmare.
"When someone you love is just gone, that's not really something you can put into words," Jones said. "It's just really unfair."
Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder identified the deputies involved in the chase Wednesday afternoon as Wesley Brutlag and Dylan Council. While Linder said he feels for those who knew Wolf, he defended his deputies' decision to pursue.
"We're in law enforcement," Linder said. "It's our job to stop these people."
Linder said that their policy of pursuit is left up to the deputies involved to weigh the importance of apprehending that specific suspect. He said each case is treated differently.
"It's a judgment call," Linder said. "In this case, there was information that this person needed to be stopped and that's why they continued with the pursuit."
That policy differs from the Billings police, who told MTN Tuesday that they use something called restrictive pursuit — only chasing a suspect when certain high-value criteria are met.
Wolf's loved ones don't agree with the Sheriff's Office policy.
"They should've realized that that was a danger to everyone else on the road at that time," Jones said. "And they should be thanking God that nobody else got hurt."
"I understand they need to catch the guy, but what they did was completely wrong," McCracken said. "They completely wronged my family, completely wronged the public by endangering them. It was a truck with a trailer for crissake."
These are all emotions Linder said he understands, and he's devastated for the family and their loss.
"There's not a good explanation to try and justify what happened to their loved one," Linder said.
