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Guilty plea in friend shooting

A Cloquet area man who accidentally shot his friend almost a year ago pleaded guilty last week to second-degree manslaughter.

Joseph James Fohrenkam, 19, pleaded guilty in Duluth Sixth District Court Monday, Nov. 22, to the manslaughter charge. The maximum imprisonment for second-degree manslaughter is 10 years, with a minimum of 36 months. Fohrenkam signed off on the plea knowing that the prosecution is seeking an aggravated sentence of 84 months, or seven years. A charge of third-degree murder — with a maximum sentence of 25 years — will be dismissed in return for the plea.

According to the...