Steven Carl Drake II

Senior Judge Nancy Parrish couldn’t “ever remember doing it before,” but on Thursday she did it: She gave probation to a defendant who has seven prior personal felonies and the worst possible criminal history score.

Parrish, who called the hearing “a particularly difficult sentencing,” said she found substantial and compelling reasons to depart from the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines in the case of Steven Carl Drake II.

Drake, a repeat felon known for leading law enforcement on numerous car chases, would have been sentenced to nearly five years in prison if the state had prevailed at Thursday’s hearing.

In addition to the seven person felonies, Drake, in his early 50s, also has eight nonperson felonies, for a total of 15 felonies, and three person misdemeanors.

Despite that history, Parrish told Drake, “It seems you’re on a good path.”

On Thursday he was sentenced for attempted aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, felony fleeing and eluding and misdemeanor criminal damage. As the Journal-World has reported, those convictions were the result of a deal with the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office in which Drake pleaded no contest to the two felonies and one misdemeanor in exchange for the state dropping all the other charges in a 13-count complaint of nine felony charges, including methamphetamine possession, and four misdemeanors.

Prosecutor Megan Ahsens, without being explicitly critical, told Parrish that she was not the prosecutor who made that deal, which she called “an amazingly good” and “extraordinarily generous” deal, considering how many charges were dropped by the state.

In arguing for the dispositional departure to probation, defense attorney Angela Keck patted Drake’s back while telling Parrish, “This is the new Steve Drake.”

“We’re hoping you will consider him exceptional,” Keck said, after saying Drake had accepted responsibility for his crimes, had already served 20 months in jail, had shown signs of “significant” rehabilitation, had held down two jobs to take care of his family, including an adult son with schizophrenia, had attained sobriety and was doing well on new medications.

Ahsens rejected the notion that Drake had accepted responsibility, noting that he had pleaded no contest rather than guilty, that he had 31 separate entries on his presentence investigation report — “That’s a lot,” she emphasized — that he had been in and out of jail/prison much of his adult life and that many of his crimes were committed while he was on probation for other crimes. She added that he had shown himself “time and time again” to be a public safety risk.

Ahsens also vehemently objected to a psychological evaluation submitted by the defense. She dubbed the report worthless hearsay because the evaluator was not present to be cross-examined. She said that if the court was going to consider the report that the court should take note that it said Drake “tested high for recidivism,” which she called “alarming.”

Keck said she wanted a continuance if the court would not consider the psychological evaluation, but Parrish declined to grant another continuance on the heels of a recent continuance. Parrish said the state had a “good point” in objecting to the report as hearsay, but it wasn’t clear if the report played any role in her ultimate decision.

When given the chance to speak, Drake, reading from notes, attributed his criminal history to his mental health issues, which he said included schizophrenia and hallucinations. He apologized for his criminal behavior and said, “I have worked really hard.”

He said he was the only caretaker of his 23-year-old son who suffers from schizophrenia. The son would be “homeless without me,” he said, expressing the fear that he would then “follow in my footsteps.”

While claiming responsibility for his actions, Drake also faulted law enforcement officials — and one unnamed deputy in particular — with “abuse of power,” alleging he had been repeatedly targeted and battered by police.

“I feel prison would be a huge setback at the time,” he told Parrish. “If given probation, I will not let you down.”

While Parrish granted probation to Drake, she told him that he had a serious underlying sentence “hanging over your head” should he violate probation — namely 46 months for the attempted aggravated assault, 11 months for the flee and elude felony, to run consecutively, and six months in jail for the criminal damage misdemeanor. She also ordered him to pay $1,250 in restitution but waived all other costs and fees, even though Drake claimed to be working “night and day” at two jobs.

The charges he was sentenced for Thursday stem from three separate car chases in February 2022, January 2024 and August 2024.

The 2022 incident was an early-morning car chase on Feb. 3, when Drake fled from police through residential areas around downtown Lawrence. The chase ended when Drake reportedly crashed into multiple cars and a shed.

The Jan. 15, 2024, incident involved Drake fleeing from sheriff’s deputies and ultimately ramming into a patrol car.

In the Aug. 26, 2024, incident, Drake fled from a deputy who was attempting to stop him in connection with a domestic battery incident. Drake reportedly caused a collision with the deputy’s vehicle, then jumped the median onto the levee trail in North Lawrence before driving through a yard and a field and destroying a fire hydrant.

Aside from the cases resolved by the most recent plea deal, Drake has felony convictions in Douglas County for flee and elude, endangering a child and theft. In Jefferson County, he has felony convictions for forgery, obstruction and aggravated interference of parental custody, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records. In 2023 he was acquitted in Douglas County District Court of an attempted murder charge, as the Journal-World reported.

photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Steven Austin Drake III

Drake is not to be confused with his son, Steven Austin Drake III, who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2022 for the 2017 shooting death of 26-year-old Bryce Holladay and was sentenced to more than eight years in prison. The younger Drake is now on parole and living in Missouri, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.