‘100% FOR IT’

Dad Asks for Son to Get Death Penalty for Horrific Missoula Wheelchair Murder

“I don’t want this monster pampered,” his father said.

Missoula man Charles Covey is facing charges of deliberate homicide for allegedly killing a wheelchair-bound man—and his father has little sympathy. “I don’t want this monster pampered,” Michael Covey told the Missoulian. “What he did is unforgivable. I definitely wanna do my part to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Charles Covey allegedly pushed 65-year-old Roy Lee Nelson from his wheelchair on a river front trail earlier this month. A witness told police he then heard four to five blows from something that sounded like “a hollow metal pipe being violently struck against something.” A nurse later found Nelson’s body with massive head wounds. Police haven’t revealed a motive for the killing but Covey allegedly told police that he’d interacted with Nelson at a homeless shelter before the incident, and Nelson gave him “attitude” when he tried to “bum” cigarettes off the disabled man.

Despite his past disapproval for the death penalty, Michael Covey said that in this case, he is “100 percent for it” if his son is convicted. Deputy County Attorney Brian Lowney said the death penalty is unlikely due to complicated state laws.