photo by: Mugshot courtesy of Wyandotte County Detention Center

Danna Marie Priest is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Kansas City, Kansas, woman who led law enforcement on a chase through west Lawrence in March received a suspended sentence of 18 months in prison and will be on probation for 24 months.

Judge Amy Hanley handed down the sentence Wednesday afternoon to Danna Marie Priest based on a plea agreement that Priest had entered on May 5.

As the Journal-World reported, Priest was charged with two felonies in Douglas County District Court: one count of fleeing and eluding law enforcement and one count of assault on a law enforcement officer. Priest pleaded no contest to the first charge of fleeing and eluding law enforcement, and the state dismissed the second count.

The charges stemmed from a chase early on the morning of March 27, when a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy saw Priest speeding on U.S. Highway 59 south of Lawrence heading toward the city and attempted to stop her. According to the sheriff’s office, Priest drove in the wrong lane on Kansas Highway 10 between Bob Billings Parkway and Iowa Street at one point, forcing another driver off the highway, before driving through residential streets, including a yard, in west Lawrence.

The pursuit did not end when Priest’s tires were popped by a spike strip but came to a halt only after a deputy used his own vehicle to crash her car — employing a tactical vehicle maneuver while Priest was driving east on K-10 between the Iowa Street and Haskell Avenue exits.

As part of Priest’s sentence, Hanley ordered that she not use alcohol or drugs; submit to random testing with her probation officer; obey all laws; and work to gain employment. Priest offered a brief apology during Wednesday’s hearing.

Priest has had several previous drug convictions in Johnson County in 2006 and Wyandotte County in 2014, according to court records.