The mother accused of letting her son have her guns before he reportedly killed a Sheridan Police Department sergeant and launched a two-day standoff established a plea agreement Wednesday, her federal court file shows.
But the public can’t see what that plea agreement says since the U.S. Attorney's Office for Wyoming keep those documents private. That office hadn't responded to a request for comment by the time this story was published.
The federal Public Defender’s Office of Wyoming also declined Wednesday to make the agreement public.
Eileen Hurley, 71, is set to change her plea Friday in the Cheyenne-based U.S. District Court for Wyoming. Her jury trial had been set for June 23.
She was indicted Jan. 15 in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming on three counts of transferring a firearm to someone who isn’t allowed to have them, and one count of making a false statement while buying a firearm.
The first three charges each carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. The fourth charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
It’s unclear whether Hurley’s plea agreement contains all four charges or a partial count of them; whether it has a sentencing limit; or whether she’ll plead guilty or some other variation of it.
The Clash
The agreement follows a clash of recent counterarguments in which Hurley’s public defense attorney Jordan Deckenbach asked the case judge to make the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret M. Vierbuchen, hand over more information about the other 10 guns connected to the case.
Hurley’s son William Lowery on Feb. 13, 2024, shot Sheridan Police Department Sgt. Nevada Krinkee to death, authorities say. Lowery went on to hide in a local woman’s home while she was not there, launching a two-day at-times violent standoff with multiple police agencies.
When Lowery fled the home, he was shot and killed.
As a convicted felon, he was prohibited from possessing guns, court documents say.
Yet, the charges against Hurley allege that Lowery had three guns that she bought in 2022.
Deckenbach’s argument, filed in April, says that Hurley told investigators at some point that Lowery stole the guns from her. She also wanted more information about the other 10 guns he had at the time of his death so she could investigate whether those may have been stolen, the argument says.
Vierbuchen countered, saying she had already shared some details about the guns with the defense.
Hurley’s statement that her guns were stolen came late, Vierbuchen added, after the defendant had already been discussing other possibilities with investigators for weeks.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
