More than 2 1/2 years after killing a 78-year-old resident with a punch in a downtown parking lot, a Florida chiropractor received the maximum one-year jail sentence Friday for criminally negligent homicide.

Judge Gary White, who presided over William Lindemann's June trial, said the former Greenwich resident acted cruelly, callously and violently toward Herbert Davidson and had no concern for the older man after punching him.

Backing up his words, White said Lindemann left Davidson bleeding on the frozen pavement in January 2009 without calling police or an ambulance and fled Stamford and the state for Florida after throwing the punch.

White went on to say Lindemann did not tell the truth during his trial testimony when he said he did not know how old Davidson was.

He said Lindemann has a history of violence, proven when his wife obtained a protective order against him in Florida while the case was pending in Stamford. Lindemann also has seven felony convictions involving mail fraud on his record.

"His conduct was grossly negligent and cruel," White said.

Moments after judicial marshals led Lindemann away, Davidson's wife of 39 years breathed a sigh of relief outside the courtroom.

"I just loved it when they put those handcuffs on him," said Rhea Davidson, a former Stamford teacher for four decades. "But so little time for him. We will never get our Herb back," she said sadly.

According to testimony in the case, on Jan. 27, 2009, Lindemann punched Davidson after he began berating the younger man in the parking lot behind Curly's Diner.

Lindemann said defended himself after he saw something in Davidson's hand and thought the older man had a weapon.

Davidson was going to the diner to attend a poetry circle.

One witness said Davidson fell like "deadwood" after Lindemann punched him.

At the completion of his trial, a jury found Lindemann not guilty of the more serious charges of first-degree manslaughter, first-degree assault of a person over 60 and second-degree manslaughter.

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