A judge sentenced the man who was behind the wheel in a 2009 drunk driving crash that left a young child with severe brain damage to 50 years in prison Wednesday.
The child, Abdallah Khader, died in January from injuries suffered when Stewart Richardson crashed into his family's vehicle.
Stewart Richardson, 50, will be eligible for parole after 25 years.
Richardson's defense called witnesses Wednesday that testified that Richardson is sorry for what happened, such as Tarrant County Sheriff's deputy LaShondra Taylor.
"He's always polite," she said. "I've never seen him do anything out of order around anybody."
Chaplains who work at the Tarrant County Jail testified that Richardson has shown a drastic change. Five testified on Richardson’s behalf.
"I think he changed. I could see a lot of remorse with him in his past behavior," said Martin Marks.
The chaplains also said that Richardson prayed for Abdallah.
Richardson faced life in prison after police said he crashed into Khader's family's vehicle as it was stopped at a red light. Doctors said Khader's body and skull were crushed, destroying 80 percent of his brain.
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After the crash, Abdallah was unable to see and walk because of the brain damage.
Richardson had eight previous DWI charges.
Following the judge's sentence, Abdallah's mother, Loubna Elharazin, got on the stand and spoke directly to Richardson.
"Today your lawyers and the chaplains did a really good job and said how good you are in jail and how well you behaved. And I think we all agree here jail is the best thing for you, because you got better. If you stayed on the road you would have hurt other people," said Elharazin.
NBC 5's Ellen Bryan and Julie Fine contributed to this report.
