A 22-year-old Prior Lake man was sentenced Thursday to 17 years in prison for attempting to kill a homeowner during a fiery Burnsville home invasion in 2008.
Shaquen Whitfield will get credit for serving three years in jail since authorities arrested him on suspicion of trying to kill homeowner Paul Traub.
Traub was awakened and nearly murdered by two strangers who got in through his overhead garage door, which he forgot to shut on May 10, 2008.
In May, accomplice Irvin Cook was sentenced to 29 1/2 years in prison for the attack, in which he and Whitfield stabbed and sliced Traub 21 times, then set him afire.
"This was a horrific crime the likes of which we seldom see in our community," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom. "We are thankful that the victim survived this violent attack."
Judge Michael Sovis sentenced Whitfield concurrently to 204 months for attempted first-degree murder, 111 months for first-degree arson and 51 months for first-degree burglary.
During the long investigation and trial, officials said, Whitfield changed his story five times about his role in the attack on Traub, 54.
The strangers had walked in, robbed him, stabbed and sliced him, and ordered him to remain on his bedroom floor. Using a makeshift torch fashioned from a can of vegetable spray and a lighter, they set eight fires and also disabled alarms and phones before fleeing in Traub's car.
