NEW MEADOWS, Idaho — John Cody Hart, 29, the man who pleaded guilty to the October 2022 murders of two New Meadows hotel owners, was sentenced Monday.
Adams County Judge Matthew Roker sentenced Hart to 30 years fixed followed by life indeterminate, which could mean the possibility of parole after the 30 years are served.
The sentencing comes after Hart's guilty plea on July 28 to the first-degree murders of Rory and Sara Mehen. As part of his plea agreement, the State of Idaho withdrew the use of death penalty and proposed life in prison without parole.
According to an affidavit from the Adams County Sheriff's Office, Hart was going through rooms at the Hartland Inn, where he was staying on the day of the murders. The records stated he was stealing socks when he was told to leave by a police officer.
Hart went back to his room, the affidavit says, before making his way to the front counter of the hotel and shooting the Mehen couple.
Hart is also charged with another violent crime in Washington state. He was out of jail and waiting for a bed to open up at a psychiatric facility in Washington when the Mehen's were killed.
Court documents show that before the murders occurred, Hart had driven to Idaho from Washington, where he was on probation for separate criminal assault charges. Those documents also show that due to alleged schizophrenia diagnosis, Hart was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial for that assault case.
While waiting for a bed to open up in a Washington psychiatric hospital, a Washington judge released Hart from jail. That was in July of 2022, just three months before the shooting.
In Idaho, after a series of mental health evaluations, Hart was not found incompetent - and stood trial as a competent adult in Idaho.
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