Nicolae Miu is seen during his sentencing hearing on July 31, 2024.
CNN —
Nicolae Miu, who was convicted of stabbing five people, one fatally,during a 2022 tubing excursion along the Apple River in Wisconsin, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday.
Miu, 54, was found guilty in April of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman. He was also convicted of battery and recklessly endangering safety with an aggravated factor of the use of a dangerous weapon in connection with the wounded victims: A.J. Martin, Dante Carlson, Tony Carlson and Rhyley Mattison.
“(Miu) left the scene, leaving his victims to die while casually floating past them and emergency workers as if nothing had happened,” St. Croix County District Judge R. Michael Waterman said while handing down the sentence, which came just after the two-year anniversary of the attack.
In addition to the 20-year prison sentence, Miu was sentenced to six years of extended supervision. He was given 732 days credit for time served. His defense attorney, Aaron Nelson, said Miu will be about 72 years old when he is eligible for release.
Authorities said Miu was tubing on the river with his wife and friends near Somerset, Wisconsin, on July 30, 2022, when they were separated as he was searching for a lost cell phone. He came upon the victims while looking for the phone, “as he believed they’d located something.”
In the subsequent altercation, Miu stabbed the five victims and punched a woman in the face.
Miu told investigators he felt threatened and “fearful” when confronted by the victims, who he said taunted him, according to a 2022 criminal complaint. He said he stabbed them in self-defense after they threw his snorkeling gear in the water, attempted to pull down his bathing suit and called him a “child molester,” the complaint said.
Witnesses described seeing Miu brandish a “three-inch silver” knife when two females confronted him before a physical altercation broke out, the complaint stated.
One victim told investigators she was punched by Miu in the face, which gave way to a physical struggle as a male punched Miu and the group then pushed Miu, who fell into the water. Miu said he couldn’t remember anything after people hit him and got on top of him until he ran back to his wife, according to the complaint.
The complaint noted Miu said he did not immediately tell his wife and friends what had occurred as he thought the group of kids were “too drunk” and “too set on going after people,” and Mui didn’t want the two groups to confront one another.
Miu was arrested an hour-and-a-half after the incident.
“The court’s sentence must reflect the reality that it was reckless conduct that the jury found him guilty of, not intentional conduct, which is punishable much more harshly,” the judge said Wednesday.
Miu was originally charged with first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree intentional attempted homicide.
St. Croix County District Attorney Karl Anderson had told Waterman he shouldn’t believe Miu is a fundamentally passive person, despite his lack of previous criminal history. “A peaceful person doesn’t take out a knife when they could have just walked away,” said Anderson.
Nelson, the defense attorney, had argued Miu should be seen as a decent person who made a terrible mistake, saying: “Mr. Miu was – is – a good man.”
Miu remained stoic for most of the hearing, looking down throughout. He looked up only to read a statement to the victims’ families.
“I never meant for this tragedy to occur. My soul is broken,” said Miu. “My heart is very heavy, and I will never be the same carrying such a heavy burden inside.”
Miu turned to the families and cried as he said, “I’m very sorry.”
Isaac’s father, Scott Schuman, said after the hearing he was happy Miu apologized. “I still need to process that,” he said. “But I didn’t expect it, and I was happy that he did that.”
