A Farmington man who shot his girlfriend in the face last year after she told him she was leaving him pleaded guilty Friday to felony charges of attempted murder and domestic violence elevated aggravated assault.

Gunthar S. Swan, 27, accepted a plea agreement with the state in Farmington District Court. Each charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and up to a $50,000 fine.

The sentencing agreement is for 25 years. Swan will serve 16 years, have nine years suspended and serve six years of probation, defense attorney Daniel Dubé wrote in an email.  

A second charge of attempted murder and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence assault were dismissed in the agreement.

Sentencing is set for 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 5 at the District Court.

Swan shot his then-29-year-old girlfriend on June 17, 2025, after she said she was taking their daughter and moving to Wyoming without him.

“Mr. Swan made a very difficult decision in a very reasonable manner,” Dubé wrote in an email. “The agreement represents a compromise after much earnest effort by all involved. As always, (District Attorney Neil McLean Jr.) stood strong for the victim. This was an unusually difficult case. “

Swan has been held at the Franklin County Detention Center in lieu of $500,000 cash bail since his arrest last year.

According to a Farmington police affidavit, Swan and his 29-year-old girlfriend were arguing in the kitchen of his mother’s home on Fairbanks Road while the couple’s 11-month-old daughter was in a nearby room.

Swan’s mother told police the argument began when the girlfriend announced she was going to leave Swan and take their daughter to her mother’s residence in Wyoming.

Swan’s mother tried to step in to stop her son. She saw him reach to his right side, draw the gun, point it at his girlfriend with his arm fully extended and fire one shot into her face, the affidavit said.

The girlfriend, Michaela, who asked that only her first name be used, suffered significant injuries. She had to have hardware put in place in her jaw and her tongue reconstructed, the victim’s sister, Sara Richards, of Pennsylvania, wrote in an email last year.

The newspaper does not name victims of domestic violence or sexual assault without their permission.