PARIS — An Otisfield man was sentenced Friday to four years in prison, with all but one year suspended, for driving without a license and leading police on a high-speed chase in Oxford in April.
Cody Niemi, 24, appeared in Oxford County Superior Court for sentencing on felony charges of eluding an officer and aggravated operating after habitual offender license revocation. The state dropped a charge of driving to endanger in exchange for the guilty plea.
Oxford County Active-Retired Justice Robert Clifford also ordered Niemi to serve two years of probation after his sentence is completed, and to pay a $1,000 fine.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor said if the case had gone to trial, the state would have called Oxford police officer Daniel Hastings to testify that Niemi led him on a high-speed chase through Oxford that resulted in Niemi crashing his car on Gore Road.
“Officer Hastings would have explained how he heard that Niemi, whose license was revoked at the time, had been driving his kids to and from day care,” O’Connor said. “Hastings tracked Niemi to the day care, and when he tried to pull him over, he began to drive at a higher rate of speed.”
O’Connor said Hastings pursued Niemi until he crashed his car and fled the scene. Niemi was found the next day at his mother’s house.
Niemi’s license was revoked in 2015 in connection with drunken-driving conviction in 2013, O’Connor said.
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