MARYSVILLE – A Kansas man was sentenced Tuesday to more than 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder and related charges, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Jeffery Scott Guenther, 48, Washington, Kansas, pleaded guilty in February to one count of attempted first degree murder, two counts of attempted second degree murder, one count of aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated arson, one count of aggravated escape from custody, one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated escape from custody, two counts of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling, one count of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied building, one count of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, one count of criminal damage to property and one count of criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

District Judge James A. Patton sentenced Guenther to a total of 327 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The crimes occurred in October 2017 in connection with an escape from the Marshall County jail when Guenther and Matson Zane Hatfield, 31, Marysville,  lit a fire in a cell, causing smoke to fill the jail, according to the KBI. The two inmates then forced their way through the jail, obtained two shotguns and  exited the jail into the Sheriff’s Office parking lot.

While the two inmates were fleeing, a civilian county employee’s tan 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck was stolen at gunpoint, and shots were fired at a Marysville Fire Department truck. A responding Marysville Police Officer fired at Guenther in the fleeing truck. Meanwhile, Hatfield reportedly fled on foot to a residence nearby the Jail, and fired shots toward a male subject standing in front of the residence. Hatfield was acquainted with the residents of the home. A short time later, Hatfield surrendered to an officer from the Marysville Police Department.

Guenther fled the area in the stolen pickup truck and headed north on Highway 77, across the state line into Nebraska. He was pursued by Marysville Police until he rolled the truck and was apprehended in rural Gage County, Neb., not far from the Kansas/Nebraska state border.

Hatfield was sentenced to more than 47 years in prison on related charges in November of 2018.