Toledoan gets life in prison for drug-related killing

Paul Cooper, with attorney Rebecca West-Estell, watches as Linda Heidtman, Michael Heidtman's mother, steps forward to make a victim impact statement during Cooper's sentencing in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in Toledo Tuesday.

A Toledo man who was convicted after a jury trial of murder in a drug-related shooting was sentenced today in Lucas County Common Pleas Court to life in prison.

Paul Cooper, 33, will be eligible for parole after 18 years. He was found guilty Friday of two alternate counts of murder with gun specifications for the Oct. 26 shooting of Michael Heidtman, 29, in the 4000 block of Lewis Avenue.

Witnesses testified that Heidtman and another man were trying to purchase drugs from Cooper when Heidtman grabbed the crack cocaine and ran. Although he was later tackled and the drugs retrieved, he was shot once through the window of a car after he returned in a vehicle to the house where a party had been going on.

Cooper said he intends to appeal his conviction.