A Lancaster city man was sentenced to six years and nine months to 15 years in state prison after a jury found him guilty earlier this year of carrying an illegal gun while running from police in a stolen car.

In handing down the sentence on Aug. 22, Judge Merrill Spahn told Dante James Ashford, of the first block of West Lemon Street, that his “dangerous conduct” could not be overlooked and that incarceration was warranted in order to protect the public.

An attorney representing Ashford argued at length that his rough childhood, which included extensive abuse, bouts of homelessness and periods of abandonment – while not excusing his behavior – served as an explanation for it and that a mitigated sentence was warranted.

But while acknowledging Ashford’s difficult upbringing, First Deputy Assistant District Attorney Cody Wade, who prosecuted the case, argued that “past traumas did not put a gun in his hands that night” and listed numerous violent offenses in Ashford’s past including “a steady mix of firearms and drugs.”

“This is a pattern and history of bad decisions,” Wade told the court.

Wade also noted that Ashford was on supervision at the time of the incident for a different offense, arguing that the justice system that had attempted to rehabilitate Ashford in good faith got “burned” when they gave him the benefit of the doubt for his prior missteps.

And, while adding that he hopes Ashford can eventually become a productive member of his family and community, Wade argued that “this will be his sixth chance” and that he didn’t deserve another.

Judge Spahn, while also acknowledging that Ashford was “no doubt subjected to various senseless abuses during his formative years,” told him that “there needs to be accountability” before he can become a productive member of society.

“It is a result of your own actions and decisions that we are where we are today,” Spahn told Ashford.

A jury had found Ashford guilty of person not to possess a firearm, firearms not to be carried without a license and evading arrest following a trial in May.

Ashford, 21, and his three co-defendants led police on a chase along Route 283 in Mount Joy and Rapho townships in a stolen car in February 2023.

An officer had initially attempted to pull the vehicle over in the westbound lanes of Route 283 near Snyder Road in Mount Joy Township after noticing that the vehicle had been stolen, but Ashford and the others instead took off. Police were eventually able to stop the vehicle along Route 283 near Meadow View Road in Rapho Township, after which Ashford and the others attempted to flee on foot.

Officers were able to capture Ashford, who was found to have discarded a concealed firearm during his flight. Ashford is prohibited from possessing a firearm due to prior felony convictions.

Investigators determined that the vehicle had been stolen in an armed carjacking in Berks County days earlier.

Wade thanked Northwest Regional Police before the court for their diligent work in capturing the stolen vehicle and three of the four defendants as well as their subsequent investigation.

Northwest Regional Police Officer Bradley Redinger filed the charges.