COLONIAL HEIGHTS -- A Barboursville man who led Chesterfield County police on a chase that ended in the death off an off-duty Colonial Heights police officer will serve 20 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and three related convictions.

Colonial Heights Circuit Judge Herbert C. Gill Jr. this morning sentenced Douglas Michael Brown Jr., 37, to 10 years with five suspended for involuntary manslaughter, 10 years with five suspended for felony hit and run and five years each for eluding police and being a habitual traffic offender.

In sentencing Brown, Gill went well above state sentencing guidelines that called for a high of 14 years, nine months in prison and a low of seven years, two months.

Brown was convicted in December in the death of off-duty Colonial Heights police Lt. James H. Sears, who was killed in an errant Chesterfield pursuit on Aug. 12, 2006.

Brown led officers on a 10-mile pursuit that reached speeds of 110 mph and crossed into Colonial Heights during the early morning hours.

Sears was on his way home from the gym when Chesterfield patrolman Haywood E. James III, pursuing Brown, lost control of his cruiser and slammed head-on into Sears' car.

-- Mark Bowes