Menu
No new sentence for man who led 100-mph chase
One day shy of his one-year anniversary of receiving an acknowledged sentencing break when ordered to serve six years in prison, a 27-year-old Hendricks County man had his request for sentence modification denied in Putnam Superior Court.
Nicholas J. McAlister -- who pleaded guilty to leading Putnam and Hendricks county police on a high-speed chase that topped 100 mph and later to battering four female Putnam County Jail officers -- will receive no sentence modification, Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges ruled Monday.
McAlister had appeared in court Friday seeking modification of the sentence that was handed down by Bridges on Aug. 15, 2016 after McAlister had agreed to a plea agreement in the case. McAlister pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine as a Level 3 felony (sentencing range of three to 16 years), and one count of battery as a Level 6 felony (sentencing range of 6-30 months).
In exchange for those guilty pleas, one count of resisting law enforcement and three other battery counts (all Level 6 felonies) were dismissed.
The Putnam County Prosecutor’s Office agreed to cap his sentence at six years with the two causes to run concurrently. McAlister, who is represented by Indianapolis attorney John L. Tompkins, was subsequently ordered to serve six years of executed time with 10 years on probation.
He appeared in court Friday, asking instead to be placed on work-release, allowing him to live with his sister and her husband in Avon and accept a job in the same plumbing firm as his brother-in-law.
That won’t happen now as authorities believe McAlister’s extensive criminal history overshadows any change for the better that might have occurred over the past year.
Officer Ervin of the Stilesville Police Department was the one staring into McAlister’s sights in October 2015 when the Avon man was driving more than 100 mph the wrong way on U.S. 40 near State Road 75. In court Friday, Ervin said the suspect “showed willful recklessness” and “complete disregard for public safety and his own safety.”
High on drugs, including methamphetamine, McAlister caused several cars to swerve off the road. It was a miracle no one was seriously injured, authorities said then and reiterated now.
When arrested after the chase, McAlister had more than $1,300 in cash in his wallet and harbored two bags of a crystal-like substance. Later determined to be methamphetamine, it totaled 117 grams (or 4.1 ounces).
“The sentence was more than fair,” Putnam Chief Deputy Prosecutor Justin Long said Friday, “especially considering what could have happened.”
McAlister, who has an earliest possible release date of Oct. 23, 2019 without any sentence modification, told the court Friday he didn’t remember too much about the 100-mph chase.
“Thank God I didn’t kill anybody that day,” he said. “I don’t really remember too much of it but from what I read, I’m very disappointed in myself.”
McAlister described himself as a daily meth user back then but said he has been able to achieve sobriety since and has completed the Department of Correction Clean Lifestyle is Freedom Forever (CLIFF) program.
In addition to the Putnam cases, McAlister has two cases in Hamilton County, Ohio, including a handgun charge, open container violation, possession of paraphernalia and driving on the wrong side of the road.
At the 2016 hearing, the judge noted McAlister had spent his 26th birthday in the Putnam County Jail while awaiting the outcome of the charges against him. Now he has spent his 27th birthday in prison.
“You keep it up,” Bridges suggested, “and you’re going to turn 66 in jail.
The 10 years of probation, the judge reasoned then, should help assure McAlister changes his ways since he “will always have 10 more years in the DOC hanging over your head.”