A Lehi man who set off a homemade firework that nearly killed 12-year-old Bridger Hunt of Orem was sentenced Tuesday to 180 days in jail.

Craig Miller will serve at least 21 days of that sentence in jail and has the opportunity to serve the rest of the time on GPS monitoring. He will also serve three years of probation.

Miller offered a tearful apology before the sentence was handed down, disputing his attorney's assertions that Miller was fortunate he wasn't badly injured as well. "It's not fortunate," Miller said. "I wish I would have died."

What was meant to be an amusement for neighborhood children turned into tragedy, and Miller said he wishes he could go back and have it take his life instead of injuring Bridger. Every day, he lives with the fact that he has damaged a child.

"If somebody had done something to me, I could take it," he said. "But I hurt a child by my actions."

Miller said the fact that he has children of his own to take care of keeps him going every day. However, he said his own life is over.

"I can never make it right. Never," Miller said. "He will live with that. Even if he fully recovers, which I believe he will, he will always have had that suffering."

Miller's attorney, Mark Ethington, asked Judge Fred Howard to be lenient with Miller and allow him to stay out of jail. Miller has never committed another crime and he did not mean to harm anyone with his actions, he said.

"Due to the circumstances in this particular case, we believe that jail, any amount of time in jail, would not be appropriate," he said.

Ethington said black powder was a hobby of Miller's with muzzle loading, but he has sworn off the substance and wants no involvement with it. He also noted that Adult Probation and Parole identified Miller as a low-risk offender in their pre-sentence report.

"This is definitely not a situation where there is any risk at all that what happened here in this case will ever happen again," he said.

Prosecutor John Nielsen disagreed with Ethington, saying some jail time would be appropriate in the case. Nielsen said that although the incident was not intended to cause harm, it was still reckless. Like a traffic accident in which a driver was reckless, Nielsen said the penalty is more harsh when someone gets hurt as a result of recklessness.

Nielsen said he also believes that incarceration will help Miller deal with his own guilt and will allow him to feel he has paid his debt to society.

"I think some incarceration would help," he said. "The defendant obviously feels a great deal of remorse."

Howard said in his sentencing of Miller that he did not believe a lengthy stay in jail would be beneficial in the case. Too much time in jail would hamper restitution efforts for Bridger and his family. Miller has sold his home since the incident and has given some money to Bridger, while the rest of the proceeds are locked in a trust account until a restitution amount has been decided. A restitution hearing will be held Feb. 6 to determine how much Miller will pay the family, an amount Howard said could be in the neighborhood of $500,000.

Bridger Hunt's mother, Mindy Carter Shaw, told the judge that the lives of her entire family have been changed entirely and now revolve around getting Bridger better. The boy wakes up every morning with extreme nerve pain that cannot be helped by any medication.

"It takes a couple of hours to get that pain under control," she said.

Hours of physical therapy take place every day to help Bridger learn to use his leg again. Despite his extreme pain, he has learned to lift his leg, which doctors thought would not be possible.

"I do believe that one day he will walk," she said. "I believe he will run one day."

Some of Bridger's friends have stuck around, while others cannot handle the change at their young age. Shaw said her son no longer feels cool and wonders what the girls will think of his scars one day. However, despite the life-changing effects of the fireworks blast, Shaw said she and Bridger are grateful for the miracles they have seen in his recovery and did not wish to see Miller punished with jail.

"I can truly say, I don't forgive Mr. Miller, because I'm not angry at him," she said.