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.

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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The man charged in the Five Points shooting that injured a University of South Carolina student said the media was making a big deal out of the case because the victim was white.

Michael Juan Smith was sentenced to the maximum 10 years in federal court Friday. In February he pleaded guilty to possessing a weapon as a felon, admitting possessing a pistol that was taken across state lines before it was stolen in Richland County.

Smith still faces state charges related to the shooting. If convicted on those charges, he must serve the 10-year federal sentence in addition to what time he receives from the state.

Smith was charged with assault and battery and several weapons-related charges after the shooting in Five Points in 2013 that left Martha Childress paralyzed.

Friday, prosecutors played audio recordings of Smith’s jail conversations, who said the media was making a big deal about the case “because she’s white.”

“I didn’t try to shoot that d__n b___h,” said another recording.

As she heard this, Childress cried and asked for a facial tissue.

Smith, who has previous felony convictions, did not admit firing the weapon or shooting Childress.

Police say Smith opened fire on two men he was arguing with on Harden Street on an early October morning in 2013.

However, the bullets missed their intended targets and instead struck Childress in the midsection, severing her spinal cord and forcing her to spend the rest of her days in a wheelchair.

Smith’s defense claimed he fired in self-defense, but Judge Joe Anderson rejected that argument, saying there was no reason for him to have a gun and fire into a crowd.

Prosecutors also showed surveillance video of the shooting, which shows Childress falling near the Five Points fountain  as shots were fired.

On Oct. 13, 2013, 18-year-old Martha Childress’ life changed forever.

As she awaited a taxi to take her back to her dorm room on the campus of the University of South Carolina, Childress was struck by a stray bullet fired from a gun by a man she had never even met.

The bullet hit Childress in the ribcage and she immediately collapsed to the ground. She says she remembers everything that happened in the moments after she was hit.

“I didn’t really know I was shot at first. I just knew I heard a loud bang and I fell and didn’t really know what was going on and I couldn’t feel my legs,” said Childress. “I looked over to my best friend, who was standing next to me, and I just told her, ‘I can’t feel my legs. I can’t move.'”

Childress says chaos surrounded her in those desperate moments where she didn’t exactly know the extent of her injuries. She repeatedly asked anyone in the area what happened and she finally received the word as her lungs began to fill with blood.

“Then finally, I was like, ‘Please tell me what’s going on,’ and they told me I was shot,” said Childress. “I just went quiet. I had no idea, and then all these crazy questions went through my mind like, ‘Why would someone do this to me, what happened, why did I deserve this?'”

She was transported to Palmetto Health Richland Hospital in critical condition where doctors finally told her she was paralyzed. It was a fact Childress said she already knew.

“I had the worst idea in my mind, I knew, though, I was. It just confirmed what I already knew,” said Childress. “It was hard.”

After almost a week in intensive care, Childress was moved to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta to begin the long rehabilitation process. It was a transition she was not prepared for, she said.

“Coming here was a big adjustment,” said Childress. “I wasn’t ready for what I was about to get into. It’s very demanding and grueling here. It’s hard to learn these things because you start all over.

Childress said the rehab process brought out plenty of anger and frustration about her plight, but she pressed on.

“I was angry at myself, I was angry at [suspect Michael Juan Smith], I was angry at the world,” said Childress. “And you get to the depression and the sadness of it all. You’re just sad, and you don’t want to see anyone at all. After a while, I was just sick of being tired. I was sick of being tired and mad and just all of it. I didn’t want to be sad anymore, so I decided to just try and get along with my life because I didn’t want to be a victim anymore.

“The moment I become a victim, he wins. That’s the thought that went through my mind, so I didn’t want to be a victim anymore.”

At the recovery center, Childress has been involved in an extensive process to regain flexibility and movement. She has to relearn how to live life and even how to do the most basic of things. It’s been hard work, she says.

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