Captured Escapee Sentenced to 8 Years on Each Count

LONGVIEW — On Thursday, Gregg County Inmate Jace Martin Laws entered a guilty plea to the offenses of Escape while Arrested or Confined and Evading Arrest or Detention with a Motor Vehicle. He was convicted in October on 2 counts of Assault of a Peace Officer. Laws was subsequently sentenced to 40 years on count one and 30 years on count two.

Also Laws was under indictment for the separate offense of Evading Arrest or Detention with a Motor Vehicle, a third degree felony. Laws was being housed in the South Jail Facility at the Gregg County Sheriff’s Office awaiting trial for the Evading Arrest charge. The trial was scheduled for Jan. 21. Two days before Christmas Laws escaped from the Gregg County Jail. He was captured 2 Days after Christmas with out incident. Laws was sentenced to 8 years for Escape and 8 years for Evading Arrest. These sentences will be stacked on top of his prior sentences of 40 years and 30 years, meaning Laws will serve his prison sentences for both counts of Assault of a Peace Officer before the new sentences for Escape and Evading Arrest begin.