Michigan Man Surprising, Uncoordinated

Where's the rule that says a surprise has to be good?

A Mundy Township [Michigan] man who invited an exotic dancer to close her eyes so he could give her a Sweetest Day surprise, but instead beat her with a hammer, was sentenced Tuesday to a minimum of 5 1/2 years in prison.

It was a surprisingly generous surprise:

At an earlier hearing, the victim said she received more than 30 blows to her head and arm in the attack, and that it required 25 staples in her head and 50 stitches on her face and arm, including having her left ear reattached.

When she got into Schmidt's car that night at the apartment complex off Maple Road where he lived, Schmidt wore gloves and had covered the interior of his car and its windows with towels and sheets, leading authorities to believe he had planned to beat his victim, if not kill her.

He told her the inside of his car had gotten wet. At one point while she was in the car, he leaned over to kiss her and told her to close her eyes in preparation for her Sweetest Day gift.

It's lucky for her he had such a weenie arm.

Schmidt gave the court no explanation for the attack.