WARREN — An Ashtabula County man was sentenced earlier this week in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to six years in prison on charges of failure to comply with the signal or order of a police officer, a third-degree felony, and a misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing, as well as a parole violation.

A jury found Dennis L. Brainard, 49, guilty May 11 after about 40 minutes of deliberations, according to the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office. His trial before Judge Ronald Rice lasted one day.

Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Burnett called three witnesses to the stand, including an off-duty Ashtabula police officer, a Trumbull County sheriff’s deputy and a drone operator from the county’s Emergency Management Agency. Brainard underwent a background investigation prior to his sentencing.

The case involved Brainard pulling a gun on an off-duty Ashtabula police officer on a Trumbull County road after the off-duty officer stopped to check on Brainard’s disabled vehicle. The Nov. 3 incident then turned into a police chase with Brainard’s vehicle trying to elude a Trumbull County sheriff’s deputy.

The chase ended in a cornfield when Brainard ditched the vehicle and fled on foot before he was spotted by a drone.

Rice noted the defendant’s long criminal history and the fact he committed the crimes while on parole in sentencing him to one year for the probation violation consecutive to the maximum five years for the fleeing from police offense, according to the prosecutor’s office.

“You are the poster child for why they increased the penalty for this kind of crime to 60 months,” the judge told Brainard, noting his previous three failure-to-comply offenses. Brainard’s record also included numerous assaults and drug offenses, including illegal manufacturing of marijuana.