21-06-2025
Bismarck man sentenced for fleeing law enforcement, crashing vehicle in Jamestown
Jun. 21—JAMESTOWN — An 18-year-old Bismarck man who led law enforcement on a pursuit that started on Interstate 94 and ended in a two-vehicle crash in Jamestown was sentenced recently in Southeast District Court in Jamestown.
Jamie Ray Barnes pleaded guilty to fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, reckless endangerment and theft of property, Class C felonies that were later deemed misdemeanors, and aggravated reckless driving, a Class A misdemeanor.
Charges of criminal vehicular injury, persons under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any other drugs or substances not to operate a vehicle, prohibited acts-more than a half ounce of marijuana and driving while license was suspended or revoked were dismissed in exchange for guilty pleas to the other charges.
Barnes was accused of taking a vehicle valued between $1,000 and $10,000, failing or refusing to bring the vehicle he was driving to a stop or fleeing or attempting to elude when a pursuing police vehicle or peace officer gave a visual or audible signal to bring the vehicle to a stop, recklessly creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death to another and driving a vehicle recklessly in disregard of the rights or safety of others on May 10.
Judge Troy LeFevre sentenced Barnes to 210 days in the Stutsman County Correctional Center with credit for 31 days served. LeFevre placed Barnes on 24 months supervised probation and ordered him to submit to fingerprints. LeFevre also ordered Barnes to pay a $35 indigent defense application fee and a $25 victim-witness fee. The court retains jurisdiction on restitution for 60 days. Barnes is eligible for the Cooperative Treatment Release program.
Barnes fled from a North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper, who was responding to a report of reckless driving, on May 10 about a mile west of Eldridge on I-94, according to Sgt. Nathaniel King with the North Dakota Highway Patrol. The vehicle Barnes was driving entered Jamestown at exit 257, and the trooper discontinued the pursuit.
The vehicle was later located by a Stutsman County Sheriff's Office deputy and a Jamestown police officer as it approached the intersection of 17th Street Southwest and U.S. Highway 281 where the vehicle drove through a red light and almost struck another motorist, according to Maj. Justin Blinsky, assistant chief of police for the Jamestown Police Department.
Barnes continued to flee throughout parts of southeast Jamestown before he disregarded a red light and struck a 2021 GMC Sierra pickup, driven by a 30-year-old Jamestown man, traveling southbound through the intersection, Blinsky said.
A Class C felony is punishable by five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by 360 days in prison and a $3,000 fine.
