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A Minnesota man convicted in the slaying of a high school student and stabbings of four other people who were tubing on a western Wisconsin river was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison.
A judge also ordered Nicolae Miu, 54, to serve six years of extended supervision following his release from prison in the July 2022 stabbings along the Apple River in St. Croix County, which sits along Wisconsin’s state line with Minnesota.
A jury convicted Miu, of Prior Lake, Minnesota, in April of first-degree reckless homicide, four counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and one count of battery.
Prosecutors had sought a 70-year prison term for Miu in the stabbing attack that killed Isaac Schuman, 17, of Stillwater, Minnesota, and wounded four others. The stabbing took place as Miu and the victims were tubing along the Apple River in separate groups.
Investigators said Miu attacked after people accused him of approaching children in the water. Miu told investigators that he was using a snorkel and goggles to look for a lost cellphone. He told investigators he felt threatened and acted in self-defense.
Miu pulled out a knife and began stabbing people after he was taunted by Schuman and his friends, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported, citing court documents.
St. Croix County District Judge R. Michael Waterman said two of the victims who survived their stab wounds would have died without the prompt help of other tubers and emergency responders. He said all of the survivors “suffered permanent disfigurement.”
Waterman said Miu “made a series of very poor decisions” after being “confronted with words and boorish taunts and insults.”
“He fled the scene, leaving his victims to die while casually floating by them and emergency workers as if nothing had happened,” the judge said, noting Miu was arrested as he tried to leave the scene in his car.
Miu's attorney, Aaron Nelson, asked the court for a “measured response” in its sentence. He said the defense understands and appreciates the “heartbreaking loss” of the Schuman family and other victims.
