photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Sheriff's deputies used a tactical vehicle intervention to stop fleeing suspect Mason K. Needs on Jan. 27, 2022. Needs was convicted and sentenced on April 27 to 15 months in prison for theft and fleeing from law enforcement.

A Kansas City, Kansas, man was sentenced in a Douglas County District Court to 15 months in prison for leading police on a chase in a stolen car in January.

Mason Kevin Needs, 32, was sentenced Wednesday by Judge Sally Pokorny to 10 months for theft of a Honda Del Sol and five months for fleeing from law enforcement. He was originally charged with theft, possession of methamphetamine and two counts of recklessly fleeing and eluding.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, the charges relate to an incident on Jan. 27 in which Needs led police and sheriff’s deputies on a chase from Old West Lawrence through North Lawrence before a deputy used a tactical vehicle intervention maneuver to stop him.

Needs’ vehicle crashed into the ditch near North Third Street and the Kansas Turnpike entrance. The car briefly caught fire but was quickly extinguished.

Needs has a long criminal history, Pokorny noted, though it is mostly low-level offenses. She said 16 different convictions were listed in his presentence report. He has charges in multiple counties in Kansas and Missouri, she said.

Despite his history, Needs was still eligible for probation and is already on probation for other crimes, said Senior Assistant District Attorney David Greenwald.

Greenwald recommended that Needs receive prison time for the reckless nature of the car chase and for his inability to comply with probation in other counties.

“The defendant has continued to commit crime after crime no matter who is supervising him,” Greenwald said.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Mason Kevin Needs

Needs was represented by defense attorney Gerald Wells, who said that Needs has admitted to the crime and has been forthcoming with him about his guilt. Wells said that Needs pleaded to the charges and saved the court the trouble of a trial and should receive the sentence recommended by the sentencing guidelines.

Pokorny said that Needs’ criminal history “goes on and on” and that while he may not have burdened the court with a trial, he would be a burden to Douglas County probation services.

Pokorny said that Needs has as many as 12 pending cases and that a probation officer would have to follow him as he went from “jurisdiction to jurisdiction” to try and clear up all of his cases. She said Needs has current convictions in Neosho County, Kansas, as well as Platte and Green Counties in Missouri that all have pending sentences.

Pokorny sentenced Needs to 15 months of prison to run consecutively with any convictions he already has.

“He’s not showing any positive inclination. His trajectory is still downward,” Pokorny said.

Needs was returned to the Douglas County Jail, where he has been since his arrest, until he can be transferred to a state prison to serve his sentence.