A career criminal who went on a wild crime spree in Scioto County last year will spend the next 50 years in familiar surroundings. Scioto County Common Pleas Court Judge Howard Harcha sentenced him to 50 years in prison for his actions last January.
It only took the jury five hours to decide his fate after listening to three days of testimony to convict 41-year-old Christopher Lorenzo Peake of attempted aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, burglary, felonious assault, improperly discharging a firearm in a school safety zone, failure to comply tampering with evidence, and obstructing official business, among other charges.
The State of Ohio presented 16 witnesses and entered over 60 exhibits into evidence during the course of the trial. The defense rested without presenting any evidence. Peake was ultimately convicted of 20 of the 22 felony counts he faced, including one lesser offense of attempted burglary.
The career criminal hijacked a truck at the Scioto County Career Technical Center and shot a man in the face before leading officers on a multi-county high-speed chase.
The convicted drug trafficker was already wanted for absconding on his parole when officers say he and another man attempted to break into a home on Houston Hollow Road. When the resident confronted them, they ran off.
Deputies responded and started searching for the suspects. About an hour later, a parent waiting to pick up a child told them he’d parked his truck on the side of the road on Verne Rife Drive near the SCCTC when a man with a gun approached him and told him to get out of the truck. When he didn’t move fast enough, the carjacker shot through the passenger window and hit him in the face. The victim got out of the truck, and Peake headed toward the school.
A school resource officer tried to stop the Peake and initiated a chase. Peake sped toward US 23 and hit a semi before taking off down the road and throwing items from the truck in what he later admitted was an attempt to wreck the officers following him.
The Ohio State Patrol deployed stop sticks, but Peake drove around them and headed toward Portsmouth, where PPD officers also tried to stop him with stop sticks. Peake reached speeds of 140 MPH as he turned onto U.S. 52 and headed into Adams County, where deputies there also deployed stop sticks.
He finally crashed into a guardrail near Manchester. Peake refused to get out of the truck, struggled with officers, and even went for his gun before officers pulled him through the driver’s side window. He also attempted to bite a deputy.
Adams County EMS transported him to SOMC, where he was treated and released before being arrested.
At the sentencing, Scioto County Prosecutor Shane Tieman said, “Mr. Peake attempted to burglarize an elderly couple’s home while they were present, shot at a man who was only trying to pick his daughter up from school, then endangered countless members of law enforcement, motorists, and children as he fled through five separate school zones over 57 miles. It was nothing short of a miracle that no one was seriously injured or killed as a result of his actions.”