St. Paul man sentenced for 4th of July shooting
A St. Paul man has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for firing his gun into a Fourth of July crowd, hitting and wounding a 14-year-old boy.
Fifty-one-year-old Cary Francis Schmidt was convicted Oct. 15 of first- and second-degree assault.
Schmidt declined to speak when Judge Teresa Warner gave him a chance Tuesday. The family of the victim, Gunnar Footh, urged the judge to impose the maximum sentence, which would have been more than 8-and-a-half years. The defense argued for the minimum, about six years.
According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the boy's father says his son is doing well, although bullet fragments remain in his body from the July 4, 2009, shooting.
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His attorney had argued that Schmidt did not deny shooting the gun but never intended to hurt anyone.
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press
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