Manhunt ends in road to prison
May 29—By Barry Porterfield
A planned argument on bond didn't happen but a new road to prison did for a Garvin County suspect who fired gunshots at and fled from law enforcement officers leading to a massive manhunt.
The fast turnaround came last week for Trace Prosise, 24, who instead chose to accept a plea deal that calls for him to spend the next few years in prison.
Prosise was facing four new felony charges on top of some previous formal accusations after his potentially deadly encounter with police officers from two area towns back on May 20.
He was able to escape capture until officers from various agencies banded together to find him the next day in nearby Sulphur.
During a hearing scheduled for May 24 to determine his bond status, Prosise instead pleaded no contest to all the charges as he was sentenced to what amounts to a 12-year prison term.
That dozen years is the first chunk of the overall sentence as the rest of a 35-year term was suspended.
"I want to get it over with," Prosise said when asked by District Judge Leah Edwards why he decided to accept the plea agreement calling for several years in prison.
Prosise, wearing an orange inmate suit and restrained in chains, stood before Edwards surrounded by his two court-appointed attorneys, Tyson Stanek and Dalton Vandever, along with Corey Miner, an assistant district attorney in Garvin County.
"There was active negotiations throughout the afternoon," Miner told the judge.
"I had a meeting with him this morning in jail and later in the law library," Stanek said, referring to Prosise.
"In every way, he seemed to be rational and asked reasonable questions during the negotiations."
Edwards reminded Prosise two of the charges, shooting with intent to kill, are considered by law "violent offenses" requiring him to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.
"There are two separate officers I spoke with prior to the plea," Miner said. "Both gave their approval."
Those police officers are Bradley Uhles in Paoli and Doug Jolley in Maysville.
A filed affidavit shows Uhles reported at around 12:20 p.m. May 20 hearing a radio report of a motorist "brandishing" a gun while traveling northbound on U.S. Highway 77. The vehicle drove past Uhles and the high-speed pursuit was on as it then went westbound before a series of turns on county roads began.
"The driver threw a multitude of items at me trying to hit my patrol vehicle," Uhles said in his report. "The driver continued to drive erratically."
When the chase got to SH 19 the vehicle driven by Prosise is reported to have nearly struck other vehicles, while at times forcing other motorists to take evasive action to avoid collisions. At some point, Jolly joined the pursuit.
"I observed the driver begin firing rounds from a handgun out of the driver's window at Chief Jolley and me."
Eventually, the suspect's vehicle crashed in the Foster area as Prosise got out and ran into a wooded area. Prosise was at one point spotted but able to escape capture until the next day when court records show he was found at his girlfriend's place in the Sulphur area.
Raelynn Montoya, 25, was formally accused of driving to pick up Prosise and help him avoid authorities. She received a felony count of harboring a fugitive from justice that was later in the week dismissed here in Garvin County.
Last week's sentence for Prosise is to run concurrently with other charges he faced that include vehicle theft and unlawfully possessing a firearm.
A new one accused him of stealing a tractor and baler, both valued at more than $50,000, on May 21.
Prosise also has previous convictions in cases dating back to 2019 in three counties. They are for stealing a motorcycle and two vehicles, assaulting and eluding law enforcement.
