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Elton Holmes receives long prison sentence for fatal hit-and-run

The punishment phase ended Tuesday in the trial of the man who ran over and killed a King High School student in 2018.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Nueces County jury handed down a long prison sentence Tuesday for Elton Holmes, who was found guilty last week in the fatal hit-and-run crash that claimed the life of a student last March.

Holmes was sentenced to 75 years in prison for accident involving death; 55 years for accident involving serious bodily injury; 50 years for aggravated assault; and 20 years for criminally negligent homicide.

It was in March of 2018 when authorities said Holmes ran over two King High School students, killing one of them, 16-year-old Rai-Anne Garza. He then fled the scene and was arrested later. He was found guilty in court on Friday.

RELATED: Jurors find Elton Holmes guilty in crash that killed student

Jurors said the range of punishment was reached based on Holmes' previous criminal record. No additional fines were allocated for any of the charges.

Holmes stood silently as 117th District Court Judge Sandra Watts read the jury's decision on each count of his punishment.

"What I wanted him to get was life," said Renaldo Garza Sr., Rai-Anne Garza's father.

Garza's family said no amount of punishment will bring their daughter back.

"Whatever comes our way from here on, we're going to be there, and I'm going to be at every parole hearing he's got," Renaldo said.

"She's not coming back and that's what I wanted, for her to come back," said Tanya Rai Brown, Rai-Anne's mother. "But we got justice for her."

"She can rest in peace now," Rai-Anne's aunt Darlene Garza said. "We can move forward a little."

16-year-old Madicyn Knott, the teen who survived the horrific crash, broke her silence following the sentencing Tuesday.

"I love her. I loved Rai-Anne with all my heart," Knott said. "She knew that."

Knott built up courage to recall the fateful moment when she lost her best friend. They were standing next to each other, holding hands.

"I saw the car a few buildings down. You know, the light was red. It was our time to cross. It was safe to assume it was time to cross," Knott said. "And when I looked over again at her, it was too late and the car was on top of us."

While Holmes has 30 days to file an appeal, he will have to serve at least 25 years before he is eligible to be considered for parole.

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