Man with Lengthy Record Found Guilty in Chase, Manhunt

ATHENS — On Wednesday afternoon, a Henderson County jury delivered a quick verdict after deliberating for only eight minutes in a case that involved a wild chase and manhunt last June. KETK reports jurors convicted Joshua Paul Calhoun, 34, of Athens, of evading arrest or detention with a motor vehicle — and also found that he used the vehicle as a deadly weapon in the course of committing the offense. Calhoun has numerous arrests, including an arrest in March of 2009 for theft of an airplane from the Athens Airport.

Last June 18, authorities were made aware of a pickup reportedly stolen by Calhoun traveling on Highway 155 and crossing Lake Palestine. Failing to yield to lights and a siren, the pickup truck sped up after turning down a one-lane county road. As the pickup reached speeds of 90 mph, two bystanders’ vehicles were run off the road. Calhoun drove at high rates of speed through turns and at one point cut through the front yard of a home. After miles of speeding down various roads, Calhoun temporarily got away while forcing the pickup through the entry of a hay pasture. Deputies would ultimately find the severely damaged and no longer drivable pickup at the very end of a pasture in front of an opening into a heavily wooded area.

Multiple agencies were called out in what became a manhunt involving upwards of 25 officers after Calhoun began running through thick woods on foot. An investigator eventually spotted Calhoun, who was pursued at gunpoint but finally gave up approximately a mile from where the stolen pickup was found. A sentencing hearing has been set for February 12, 2015.