By WILLIAM KATES
Associated Press

SYRACUSE - A 16-year-old Syracuse boy was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years to life in state prison for the sniper-style shooting of an unsuspecting neighbor.

Shawn Rhines pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder for killing 47-year-old Casimir Snyder, a father of four who was getting into his car when he was hit in the neck by a bullet fired from an attic window across the street.

"I'm sorry for what I've done to this family. I could never imagine myself doing something like this. But I did, and I'm here to take full responsibility," said Rhines, who was 15 at the time of the shooting and was charged as a juvenile.

Rhines and a friend, Ja-Le Johnson, told investigators they would often hang out in the attic of the house where Johnson's brother lived and shoot target practice with rifles. Rhines admitted shooting Snyder intentionally but offered no explanation.

Assistant District Attorney Melinda McGunnigle said neither youth knew Snyder, and there was no history of trouble between them. She called Rhines a chronic marijuana user.

McGunnigle told the judge the family was forced to move because of the trauma associated with the home and because they can no longer afford it without Snyder's income.

"It was a thoughtless act, a stupid act," defense attorney Christina Cagnina told the judge. "He never meant to kill him. He thought he was just going to scare him."

Snyder, an employee with Syracuse's public-works department, was going to pick his wife up from work on Jan. 4 when he was shot. He was able to get back into his house to tell his four children he'd been shot and to call police. He then lost consciousness, and died less than an hour later.

"What you did in a marijuana haze, it's so senseless it's almost impossible to grasp," said Onondaga County Judge Joseph Fahey.

Fahey told Rhines he was getting off lightly because of his age. The maximum sentence he could have received was 15 years to life.

"My father didn't deserve this," Nicole Snyder said outside the courtroom, holding her 6-month-old daughter. "He was a family man who worked hard to take care of us."

The victim's brother, Robin Snyder, told Fahey that Rhines deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison.

"He walked out of the house and he (Rhines) shoots him dead. I don't understand. He has no soul," he said.

Johnson, also 16, was originally charged with Snyder's murder after he falsely confessed to police that he was the gunman. But Rhines surrendered to police two days later and confessed he fired the shot.

Prosecutors said they don't know why Johnson lied. He faces criminal facilitation, hindering prosecution, perjury and weapon-possession charges. The criminal-facilitation charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.