Sentencing up next for Prior Lake man who fatally stabbed one teen, hurt four others at Apple River

Convicted Apple River stabber Nicolae Miu is facing a life sentence in prison on Wednesday if a judge in St. Croix County Circuit Court decides the Prior Lake man deserves the maximum penalties allowed under Wisconsin law.

Miu, 54, was convicted in April of killing a Stillwater high school student and stabbing four others in the 2022 attack at the popular western Wisconsin recreation area. He now faces a total of more than a hundred years prison, including up to 60 years for first-degree reckless homicide, and several decades more for all for the nonfatal stabbings and for his use of a dangerous weapon in the crimes.

Miu stabbed five people on June 30, 2022, at Apple River, on the kind of summer Saturday that draws people from the Twin Cities and region to the area for inner-tubing and other recreation. The 17-year-old boy who was killed, Isaac Schuman, was from Stillwater, and was with a group of friends. Miu was also tubing with friends when he approached Schuman’s group in shallow water in what he later told authorities was a search for a lost cellphone.

A cellphone video recorded by one of the teens showed the group taunting Miu and telling him to go away. At the trial, Miu’s attorneys argued he felt threatened and was acting in self-defense.

A scuffle broke out and Miu was pushed or fell into the knee-deep water twice. When he stood up, he pulled a knife from his pocket and began lunging at the teenagers, killing Schuman and seriously wounding the others. Miu, who had been silent throughout the encounter, then walked away. He threw the knife into the woods and was arrested about an hour later when authorities found him exiting the river with his group.

“A key point in this case was Nicolae’s own actions,” St. Croix County District Attorney Karl Anderson said on April 11, the day the Wisconsin jury found Miu guilty. “After he stabbed all these people, he walked away, he ditched his knife, he didn’t tell his group anything, and then he tried to get away and pretended like he wasn’t involved.”

The sentencing hearing begins at 8:30 a.m. in the courtroom of St. Croix County Circuit Judge R. Michael Waterman. It’s expected that victims of Miu’s attack will deliver their impact statements for the first hour of the hearing before the prosecution and defense make sentencing arguments.

Neither Anderson nor defense attorneys Aaron Nelson and Corey Chirafisi had filed sentencing arguments with the court as of midday Tuesday.

The defense requested that Miu be allowed to wear civilian clothes for the hearing. The prosecution objected to the request, saying Miu is now a convicted felon and the sheriff’s office should follow its routine procedure of dressing convicts in prison garb and shackles.

Miu claimed self-defense, but a circuit court jury convicted him of first-degree reckless homicide, four counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and one count of battery. Here are the sentencing guidelines:

⋅ Up to 60 years imprisonment for first-degree reckless homicide, with additional time of up to five years possible for using a dangerous weapon.

· Up to 12½ years and a fine of up to $25,000 for each of four convictions of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, with additional time of up to five years possible on each charge for using a dangerous weapon.

· Up to nine months imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000 for battery, with up to six months added for use of a dangerous weapon.