40 Years for Black Thug Who Shot and Paralyzed White Student

WLTX
August 22, 2015

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Martha Childress is consoled after the verdict against Michael Juan Smith is read on August 17, 2015.

A judge has sentenced a man to 40 years in prison for shooting and paralyzing a University of South Carolina student in Columbia’s Five Points nearly two years ago.

Circuit Court Judge Robert Hood imposed the penalty against Michael Juan Smith just before 8 p.m. Monday. That sentence included 30 years for attempted murder, and two separate consecutive five year sentences on weapons-related charges.

Smith will get credit for the 674 days he’s already served; however, after he’s spent his time in state prison, he will then have to serve a 10 year federal sentence for a weapons charge, which he plead guilty to last year in connection with the case.

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Michael Juan Smith has left a White woman paralysed from the waist down and in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Earlier in the evening, it took the jury comprised of 11 women and one man a little over an hour to find Smith guilty of all the charges against him.

Moments after the verdict was read, Childress, who was in court, wiped away tears and received a hug.

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