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Daniel Gukeisen, a former attorney convicted of fatally stabbing Arizona State University student Garrett Hohn, was sentenced to five years in prison this morning after he was found guilty of manslaughter last month.
He actually showed up for court this time.
When the verdict was read last month, Gukeisen wasn’t present. Apparently anticipating a guilty verdict, he skipped court. He turned himself in later that day outside of the Fourth Avenue Jail in Phoenix.
When Gukeisen skipped his court appearance, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said he would push for an enhanced sentence.
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We asked Montgomery’s spokesman, Jerry Cobb, if his office was satisfied with the five-year prison sentence.
“Short answer: yes,” Cobb says. “Skipping court is never, ever, a good thing, but he turned himself in. It’s not like we needed to search for him.”
Gukeisen faced the possibility of 10 1/2 years in prison. He also could have been sentenced to probation. Because Gukeisen didn’t show up for court, Cobb says it was easier for prosecutors to argue for a prison sentence as opposed to probation.
Hohn was killed on September 6, 2008, as he was walking with a friend past Gukeisen’s Tempe townhouse.
Hohn and Gukeisen began arguing — a disagreement that ended when Gukeisen stabbed the college senior repeatedly.
Hohn was pronounced dead at a Valley hospital less than an hour later.
