Man convicted on 20 counts after manhunt, police chase

be sentenced Dec. 14. At his plea hearing on Friday, Angela Poth-Wypasek, first assistant prosecuting attorney, said the state recommends a 50-year prison sentence.

Schmidt’s lawyer, Akron-based defense attorney Jonathan Sinn, said his client will argue for a sentence closer to the minimum of about 19 years in prison.

Multiple Wooster police officers and Wayne County sheriff’s office deputies attended the hearing Friday morning. Both agencies were involved in the pursuit of Schmidt, which began in the early morning hours of Dec. 5, 2017. Court records show that Wooster police officers got a tip that Schmidt, who had warrants for his arrest, was at Walmart on Wooster’s North End. Officers found him there around 1:30 a.m.

Schmidt then got into a car and drove away. Court records show that Schmidt was hanging out of the passenger’s window of the vehicle, firing at Wooster officers pursuing him, eventually disabling one police cruiser and firing at two other officers after the car he was in crashed in a field.

Schmidt ran from there, eventually stealing a car and going south. He was spotted shortly before 5 a.m. at a Walmart in Coshocton. Guernsey County deputies later found the car they believe Schmidt used to flee Wayne County burning in the woods.

Authorities believe Schmidt stole another vehicle from a Guernsey County resident before continuing south to West Virginia, where police eventually apprehended him.