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CEDAR CITY — Convicted murderer Jacob Wayne Schmidt, 28, has been sentenced to the maximum term of 15 years to life in prison for fatally running over another man with his car.
During Tuesday's sentencing hearing before 5th District Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen, defense attorney Clifford Gravett indicated that his client plans to appeal his conviction.
"My client does express his condolences to those affected, but he does maintain his innocence and is awaiting the outcome of his appeal," Gravett told the court during the 15-minute hearing.
As previously reported, Schmidt was accused of running over and killing 37-year-old John Daniel Sineath in the parking lot of The Home Depot in Cedar City on the evening of Sept. 7, 2020.
On May 24, 2023, at the conclusion of a three-day trial, an eight-member jury found Schmidt guilty of first-degree murder.
Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson started Tuesday's sentencing hearing by addressing the court, calling Schmidt's written statement in the presentencing investigation report "one of the more pathetic ones that I've ever read, Your Honor.
"He accuses everyone else of being liars and corrupt," Dotson told the court. "He focuses on details from the trial, whether the bandanna was dark blue or black, or the detective … l read a text message in a way that made him sound worse than he thought they should. He, of course, ignores completely the fact that his mother and father testified (at the trial)."
