PLATTEVILLE — A Cuba City man sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting to death a Grant County sheriff’s deputy in 1990 will have his third parole hearing Jan. 25.

Gregory A. Coulthard, now 52, was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide with use of a dangerous weapon in July 1990 in connection with the death of Grant County Deputy Sheriff Tom Reuter, 38, on New California Road in the Town of Clifton March 18, 1990.

Iowa County Circuit Judge James Fiedler sentenced Coulthard to life in prison with his first parole eligibility in 2015 under the 1988 “life-means-life” state law that allowed judges to set a parole eligibility date for a life sentence, or to deny a parole date entirely. The earliest date for parole eligibility would have been 13 years and four months. Grant County District Attorney Emil Everix sought 40-year parole eligibility.

State law changed in 1999 to eliminate parole and allow judges to deny parole eligibility.

The state Parole Commission denied Coulthard’s first parole request in 2015, saying the commission “remains concerned with the severity of [Coulthard’s] offense, [his] narcissist attitude which was discussed during [his] parole interview” as well as “the need to serve more time.”

Six years later, the commission denied Coulthard’s parole again, but then-commission chair John Tate announced that Coulthard would be eligible for parole in three years, this coming March.

Parole Commission member Douglas Drankiewicz had recommended that Coulthard not be eligible for parole for five more years after Coulthard’s parole hearing in January 2021. Drankiewicz “assessed that the conduct and programming requirements were satisfied, but that the risk reduction, time served, and release plan requirements were not met,” according to a Parole Commission email.

After the review by Tate, the commission announced that Coulthard would be eligible for parole in three years.

Tate wrote that he supported Drankiewicz’s assessment of Coulthard, “but not the recommended length of deferral,” reducing it from the recommended five years to three years.

The commission’s 2021 action statement amended the original assessment to call Coulthard’s post-release plan “adequate” depending on verification of a Probation and Parole agent. The statement reiterated that “Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public” and that Coulthard has “not served sufficient time for punishment.”

The 2021 statement, addressed to Coulthard, said that “based on the nature and severity of the case, the senseless and deliberate act to take the life of a law enforcement officer, the fact that you have an unconfirmed release plan, a continuing need to transition through reduced security and a poor history of community supervision it is clear that you continue to present as an unreasonable risk and that more time is warranted so as not to depreciate the severity of your offending behaviors.”

Coulthard was an inmate at the medium-security Racine Correctional Institution when he applied for parole in 2021. He originally was an inmate at the maximum-security Green Bay Correctional Institution, then was transferred to New Lisbon Correctional Institution in 2004, then to Stanley Correctional Institution and then Racine.

Reuter was on his way to his Livingston home from his 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. Sheriff’s Office shift March 18, 1990 when he saw what appeared to be a disabled tractor on New California Road west of Wisconsin 80 in the Town of Clifton around 11:25 p.m.

Coulthard, then an 18-year-old farmhand on the Lynden Grove Farm outside of Livingston, had reportedly taken a tractor, with a shotgun in the cab, from the farm intending to drive to Platteville that night. Sometime before he reached Platteville, he turned back to the farm.

The report said Coulthard said carrying the gun was “a common practice as [he] would shoot at signs and small animals.” The report also said Coulthard admitted drinking starting after going to brunch with his family that afternoon.

The report said Coulthard noticed he was being followed as he drove back to the farm, so he pulled off onto a side road. Reuter then activated his emergency lights and Coulthard pulled over, the report said.

“You then reported that you took the gun and fired in an attempt to scare the officer,” the commission wrote to Coulthard. “Prior to this, you had not said anything to the officer nor had you heard anything from the officer. When asked why you would want to scare the officer, you stated that you were afraid, because he had taken several shots at you. When asked why this was not part of your initial statement regarding the event, you stated that this is what you had said at your initial meeting with the commission. 

“After some discussion of this version and why, you chose not to mention it, you were given another opportunity to truthfully discuss your motivations. It was at this time, you stated that you took a shot at him to scare him, because you knew that your drinking, driving a tractor and carrying a gun were going to be issues for him and you knew what this meant for you.”

Coulthard was on two years probation on two counts of criminal damage to property and one count of misdemeanor theft for theft of a car radio and slashing of car tires in Platteville in July 1988. He also had previously been convicted of drunk driving and hit-and-run.

“After shooting your gun, you claimed not to know the condition of the officer or if you had hit him at all,” the commission wrote to Coulthard in 2021. “You then jumped from the tractor and fled to the farm where you asked your roommate for his car key. When you told him you had a run-in with police, he refused to give you the keys, but did agree to drive you. It was then that he drove to the scene of the crime and told police you were in the vehicle. You then fled the scene again still not wanting to be held accountable for your actions.”

Coulthard was captured by a Dane County K-9 dog about five miles from the scene in the Town of Lima about five hours after the shooting.

Coulthard appealed his conviction, but the state Court of Appeals denied his appeal in October 1992. Coulthard’s appeal claimed that Fiedler erred when the jury wasn’t polled on its verdict when the verdict was announced. Before Coulthard’s sentencing one month later, the jury was brought back to Lancaster and re-polled on its verdict.

The Court of Appeals ruled that the polling before sentencing meant that “no reasonable possibility exists that one or more jurors not only falsely responded to the collective poll [when the verdict was announced] but also to the individual poll” at sentencing.

The state Supreme Court refused to hear Coulthard’s appeal later in the 1990s.

Coulthard’s first application for parole was denied in April 2015. 

According to the Department of Corrections 2015 final action report, the commission was “concerned with the severity of [Coulthard’s] offense, [and his] narcissist attitude which was discussed during [his] parole interview ...” 

The 2015 report noted that Coulthard said he saw Reuter’s flashlight at the tractor door and “shot in the direction of the flashlight.”

“The Parole Commission finds it difficult to believe the officer would’ve fired a shot without cause given that directly contradicts police training protocol,” the 2015 report said, addressing Coulthard. “Still, you were aware it was a police officer, and even if he had fired a shot, when he approached the cab with a flashlight, you deliberately shot at him …”

A group of area grandmothers who had been keeping up with Coulthard during his sentence advocated for his release in 2021. 

Grandmas for Greg representative Lenore Wimmer said during a 2020 Cuba City Common Council meeting that the group has watched as Coulthard has transformed from what she called a hostile, troubled teen to a hardworking, responsible adult. 

Coulthard wrote in a public apology letter to Grant County newspapers in 2020 that if he is released he hopes to “give back to the community, to make a difference in the world in any way [he] can, while living a quiet life where people are proud to be [his] neighbors.” 

Coulthard said in his letter he had a job offer lined up and people willing to support him and that he aspires to continue his education. 

Former state Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) now chairs the Parole Commission. Drankiewicz is still a member of the Parole Commission.

Tate resigned from the Parole Commission in 2022 after he recommended parole for a man who had served less than 25 years of an 80-year sentence for killing his estranged wife in front of their children. After meeting with Gov. Tony Evers, Tate rescinded the parole recommendation.