The man who led authorities on a chase from Dickeyville to Dubuque Sept. 16 was placed on three years probation, including three months in jail.
Devin J. Lease, 20, Dodgeville, pleaded no contest in Grant County Circuit Court in Lancaster Feb. 24 to felony charges of second-offense possession of marijuana and vehicle operator fleeing or eluding an officer. Eight counts of felony bail jumping were dismissed in a plea agreement.
Lease’s three-year probation term includes submitting to random urinalysis and providing a DNA sample.
Two days later in Iowa County Circuit Court in Dodgeville, Lease pleaded no contest to two counts of manufacture or delivery of up to 200 grams marijuana, and one count each of second-offense possession of marijuana, resisting or obstructing an officer, manufacture or delivery of up to 200 grams of marijuana, misdemeanor bail jumping, and disorderly conduct. Twelve counts of felony bail jumping, two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping, one additional count each of manufacture or delivery of up to 200 grams of marijuana and disorderly conduct, and one count each of manufacture or delivery of 200 to 1,000 grams of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia were dismissed.
Lease was also sentenced to three years probation concurrent with his Grant County sentence. His probation term conditions include maintaining absolute sobriety, no possession of any controlled substances without a prescription, an alcohol assessment, and anger management and Restorative Justice provisions.
Lease pleaded no contest in Grant County Circuit Court Oct. 7 to charges of first-offense operating while intoxicated, operating a motor vehicle without insurance, driving the wrong way on a divided highway, unsafe lane deviation, speeding more than 35 mph over speed limits on a freeway, speeding 11–15 mph over the speed limit on a freeway, and reckless driving endangering safety.
Lease was fined a total of $2,695.30 on the seven traffic charges. Lease’s driver’s license was suspended Jan. 16 for failure to pay the fines, according to court records.
A Wisconsin State Patrol trooper stopped a car driven by Lease Sept. 16 on U.S. 61/151 near mile marker 12, northeast of Dickeyville, around 4:40 p.m., after a State Patrol airplane observed Lease’s car speeding. The trooper noticed the smell of marijuana when he went up to Lease’s car.
Lease told the trooper that he couldn’t go back to jail and drove off at a high rate of speed. Lease was pursued by the State Patrol and Grant County sheriff’s deputies to the state line, nearly hitting at least two cars head-on.
Dubuque police said Lease came into Dubuque on the wrong side of the Wisconsin–Iowa bridge and got off 61/151 at 16th Street at high speed. The car traveled through stop sticks at 16th Street without stopping before police pulled over Lease at 17th Street and White Street.
Lease faces Dubuque County charges of operating while intoxicated, felony eluding, red light violations, driving on the wrong side of the road, speeding and reckless driving, according to online court records.
