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CASSOPOLIS — A South Bend man who fled police on Christmas Day will be spending the next year in jail after being sentenced Friday in Cass County Circuit Court.     

Andrew Lee Nash, 30, of South Bend, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree fleeing police as a habitual offender and was sentenced to 365 days in jail with credit for 15 days served. He must pay $1,548 in fines and costs.

      The incident occurred Dec. 25, 2024 in Milton Township, beginning when Nash fled police in Mishawaka into Michigan. He ran a red light, damaged his car, hit a curb and ended up in a ditch. He left two passengers in the car and fled on foot before being arrested.

      Nash also pleaded guilty to violating his probation from a 2021 conviction for possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced to 365 days in jail with credit for 87 days served.

      The sentences are concurrent and can be served in any penal institution. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week in Indiana for fleeing police from an Oct. 23, 2024 incident and faces an additional charge in Indiana for fleeing police as part of the Christmas Day incident.

      “His life is a wrecking ball,” Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz said. “He has two prior resisting and obstructing police convictions, he was on probation for a meth conviction and has other cases pending in Indiana which are more of the same.”

      “I’m not going to belabor the facts,” he added. “While recommendation from the department of corrections is good, I would ask for a prison sentence at the top of guidelines. It would reflect accurately the sentence he deserves.”

      Defense attorney Zachary Smith said this would be the first time Nash spends any period of time in jail. “This would be an eye opener for him,” he said. “One of the Indiana charges stems from the same incident. He needs to realize he needs to stop running from police.”

      “This is not like the days of John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde when you can try to get away from one state by fleeing to another,” Cass County Circuit Court Judge Mark Herman said. “When you do that now, you can be charged in both states and get jail or prison in both states.”

      “You said you wanted to flee because you wanted to stay out of jail for the holiday,” the judge added. You ended up spending Christmas and New Year’s in jail. It also doesn’t explain why fled in October unless you wanted to stay out to go trick or treating. You just seem to be a runner.”

      “You need to get it out of your system now or from here on out you will spend more time behind bars,” he said. “When you don’t stop, the consequences are a lot worse, that’s just the facts … If your license isn’t proper, it won’t be as severe as fleeing or resisting police, if you have a probation violation, the consequences aren’t as severe as when you flee. It’s not rocket science, a kindergartener could figure it out.”