Minn. man, Smith, gets 18 years for stabbing death

A Walker man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for a fatal stabbing in northern Minnesota.

Cass County Attorney Christopher Strandlie says 21-year-old Sheldon James Smith was sentenced Monday.

Smith had earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder for the March 21 killing of 22-year-old Jason Dale Howard.

An investigation found two groups had been getting into physical and verbal confrontations in the days before the stabbing. Smith stabbed Howard during a fight between the two groups.

Howard was airlifted to a Brainerd hospital, where he died.