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Berryhill sentenced for intending to deal meth, leading police on chase

Berryhill

A 27-year-old Minot man will serve about five years in prison for leading law enforcement officers on a chase on Oct. 21 while fleeing from police, and possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver.

Shawn Joseph Berryhill pleaded guilty to three of the felony charges against him Friday in district court in Minot.

Judge Richard Hagar sentenced Berryhill to 10 years in prison, with five years suspended, followed by three years of supervised probation for the Class A felony possession with intent to deliver charge. He was sentenced to five years for fleeing from police and five years for reckless endangerment, both Class C felonies. The sentences will be served concurrently. Under the terms of a plea deal, the state dropped one Class C felony reckless endangerment charge and one possession of stolen property charge against Beryhill. The state also agreed not to file another possession with intent to deliver felony against Berryhill. Berryhill will also receive credit for 52 days already served in jail.

One theft of property charge was dismissed against Berryhill on Oct. 26. He pleaded guilty to refusing to halt, a Class B misdemeanor, on Dec. 1 and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Under the terms of the deal, Berryhill also agreed to pay restitution on the dismissed theft of property charge. Restitution was left open for 90 days on any property damage or medical bills due to the reckless endangerment charge. The judge also ordered Berryhil to pay court costs and fees and to undergo a chemical dependency evaluation.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, law enforcement were responding to another call when a deputy located a Pontiac Grand Prix with three men in it – Berryhill and passengers Ryan Guttormson, 29, and Cody McCauley, 20. The vehicle fled. Law enforcement pursued and saw the occupants of the fleeing vehicle tossing drug paraphernalia and electronics out the car windows.

The chase headed east into McHenry County. McHenry County deputies and North Dakota Highway Patrol officers joined in the chase. When the car neared Surrey, Surrey police officers also set up in an attempt to stop the vehicle.

The vehicle ended up on 11th Avenue SE near the Sundre Addition. According to Minot police, an officer attempted to use tire deflation spikes to stop the fleeing vehicle and was nearly struck when the vehicle swerved in an alleged attempt to hit him while he was standing on the side of the road. The officer suffered a knee injury when he was trying to get away from the vehicle.

Minot police became involved in an active pursuit when the vehicle came back into the city of Minot. Officers received information that the vehicle was in the area of the 1300 block of South Broadway. Within minutes, they located the vehicle parked near a residence in the 1400 block of 7th Street SW. Detectives responded to the scene where the vehicle was located and saw Berryhill, Guttormson and McCauley walking in the area. Police ordered them to halt and the men fled. McCauley and Guttormson tried to hide under a porch at a residence and Berryhill tried to hide in a vehicle parked at the residence. According to the probable cause affidavit, Berryhill made threats to harm himself and had a knife, so police broke the vehicle window and used a Taser on Berryhill to take him into custody.

The car the men were in was reported stolen out of Bismarck.

Various Minot residents called police to report items in their yards that had been flung from the vehicle.

One item was a camouflage backpack found in a yard at 220-8th Ave. NE that contained a credit card that had Berryhill’s name on it. Also in the bag were five packages of methamphetamine containing a combined total of 15 grams of meth. The backpack also contained seven hydromorphine pills.

The other men were arrested on outstanding warrants.

Berryhill could have faced more than 40 years in prison had he received the maximum sentence for all of the charges he initially faced.

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