photo by: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

Chasmen Edward Foster

A felon who was facing 13 years in prison for aggravated burglary instead got probation Friday after a Douglas County judge found that he had made a “180-degree change” and that substantial and compelling reasons existed to depart from state sentencing guidelines.

As Judge Stacey Donovan spoke about the dramatic improvements Chasmen Edward Foster had made and also about the seriousness of the crime he had committed on June 22, 2022, when he broke into a Lawrence home, Foster and his family waited, with evident anxiety, for her pronouncement. When it was clear that Donovan was going to choose probation over prison, Foster’s mother and his new wife — their marriage license application was filed the day before sentencing — sobbed with relief. Afterward, they and Foster thanked Donovan.

As the Journal-World reported, Foster pleaded guilty in May of last year to aggravated burglary in a case where, three years prior, he had illegally entered a home in the 1000 block of Alabama Street. Two residents of the home found Foster in their basement, where he was wearing one of the man’s clothes and reportedly attempting to steal a TV. They ordered Foster at gunpoint into the kitchen until police arrived.

At his sentencing Friday, Foster acknowledged his serious mental health and addiction issues and said he had been guided by delusional thoughts to the Alabama Street house. In the years since, he said, he has dramatically turned his life around, taking responsibility for his actions, pleading guilty to the most serious charge against him, undergoing treatment, enrolling in college to become a social worker and remaining gainfully employed to support himself and his family.

His mother told Donovan that Foster was “flourishing out here” and “making good decisions now.”

“He has so much to offer,” she said, describing his strength in rising above a daunting family history of addiction and his potential to help others similarly situated.

His wife told Donovan that even while being diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder Foster had managed to stay sober, to work and to pursue a college education.

“To take him away from his family would be a mistake,” she said. A “consequence” was in order, she acknowledged, but a consequence like prison that would take him him off the “positive road” he had been traveling would be counterproductive.

She and Foster’s mother both noted that no one was injured during the 2022 burglary.

As part of Foster’s plea deal with the state, another felony charge of burglary in the same case was dropped as was a separate misdemeanor case of domestic battery from 2024.

Prosecutor Cody Allen Smith had asked the court to sentence Foster to 162 months, or 13 and a half years, noting his criminal history score of “A,” the worst possible under Kansas Sentencing Guidelines. He also noted that Foster had committed the Lawrence crime while he was on parole supervision in Ohio.

According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, one of Foster’s convictions there was in Marion County for one count of felony robbery; he was sentenced to two years in prison in February 2021.

Donovan acknowledged Foster’s criminal history, which she described as a decade old, but said she had observed a “180-degree change” in him since she had first encountered him more than three years ago — changes that amounted to substantial and compelling reasons to give him the “great opportunity” of probation.

If Foster violates his probation, he could face the underlying sentence of 162 months she gave him. In addition to numerous conditions of probation, including staying clean and sober, Foster will also have to pay more than $600 in various court costs and must write a letter of apology to the residents of the home he burglarized. In five years, if he has complied with all terms and orders, he will be able to petition for expungement of his crime, she told him.