NORTH COAST, Calif. – After about five hours of deliberations, a Mendocino County jury on Friday convicted a San Jose man of the attempted murder of a California Highway Patrol officer during a December 2016 high speed chase.

Defendant Ryan Joseph Maxstadt, 28, of San Jose, committed the felony in Willits on the night of Dec. 20, 2016.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said its deputies had responded to a report of stolen mail on a rural mail route near Ukiah that night, with their investigation identifying Maxstadt as the driver of a vehicle involved in the thefts.

The deputies, working with Ukiah Police and the CHP, located the vehicle Maxstadt was driving and attempted to stop it, but it fled, leading them on a pursuit northbound on Highway 101 at speeds of about 100 miles per hour, authorities said.

It was when he was attempting to evade authorities in Willits that he was reported to have shot at the CHP officer with a handgun.

Maxstadt would eventually abandon the vehicle – the tires of which had gone flat due to spike strips – and was apprehended with the help of a sheriff’s K9 in a creek bed in the 1100 block of South Main Street in Willits.

In addition to the attempted murder charge, on Friday the jury also found true special findings that the attempted murder was willful, deliberate and premeditated; that when Maxstadt made his attempt to kill he knew or should have known that the CHP officer was a peace officer performing his duties; and that during his attempt to kill the defendant personally and intentionally discharged his revolver at the officer, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

What the jury was not told during the course of this week's trial was that Maxstadt had already been convicted last August of assault with a firearm on a peace officer, a felony; personally using a firearm during the assault, a sentencing enhancement; recklessly evading a peace officer, a felony; being a felon in possession of a firearm, a felony; vehicle theft, a felony; and true findings that defendant Maxstadt has previously served two prior prison terms.

The jury that heard basically the same evidence in August ended up being hung on the single charge of attempted murder – 11 for guilt to one – setting the stage for this week's retrial on that single count and associated special findings.

Once this week's jury was thanked and excused, the defendant and all of his convictions were referred to the Adult Probation Department for a background study and sentencing recommendation.

Authorities said Maxstadt is not eligible for probation and any sentence imposed will be served in state prison. He remains in the Low Gap jail facility with a no bail hold.

The court scheduled a future sentencing hearing for Feb. 20 at 9 a.m. in Department G of the Ukiah courthouse. Any person interested in the facts of this case, this defendant, and/or the sentencing outcome is welcome to attend that February sentencing hearing.

The prosecutor who handled the August trial, this week's single count retrial, and who will appear to argue the people's sentencing position in February is District Attorney David Eyster.

The law enforcement agencies who assisted in the investigation of the underlying crimes were the Ukiah Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, the Willits Police Department, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, the California Department of Justice crime laboratory, and the District Attorney's own investigators. Additional technical forensic assistance and expert testimony was ably provided by Stutchman Forensic Laboratory in Napa.

The judge who presided over the August jury trial, this week's five-day retrial, and who will be the sentencing judge on February 20th is Mendocino County Superior Court Presiding Judge Ann Moorman.