GREELEY - Zuri Flores loved chocolate cake, the color pink and Jesus with all her 20-year-old heart. Her older brother, Isai Flores, shared her faith, made his reputation as a hard-driving drummer with a Christian band and adored his little sister.

The inseparable brother and sister were killed almost a year ago in Weld County by a drunken driver, who was sentenced Friday to 36 years in prison for their deaths.

Tobias Sholes, 31, who was driving without a license because of three earlier drunken-driving convictions and with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit when he hit the brother and sister head on, struggled to speak through his tears as he apologized to their parents in Weld County District Court.

Turning to face Raul and Olivia Flores, of Frederick, who clutched each other only steps from him on the front row, Sholes said he lives every day "with extreme shame, guilt and regret."

"It kills me to know I was part of something so horrific," he said, alternately dabbing his eyes with a white handkerchief and stroking his hair as if consoling himself in his anguish before nearly 65 friends and family of the young people he killed.

"I am not here to make excuses for what I have done," said Sholes, a husband and father who said he has finally stopped drinking and abusing other substances, although he had tried after the three earlier drunken-driving convictions. "I am here to say I am truly sorry and that this will be with me until the day I die."

Outside the courtroom, Olivia Flores said she and her family forgive Sholes for the grief and emptiness he has caused, but added, "We also want that this doesn't happen again."

"Nothing will bring them back again," Flores said through an interpreter. "I'm desperate to see them again."

Edward Medrano, of Frederick, uncle of the young Floreses, said the family "had the peace we needed because he admitted to what he had done."

Still, Medrano said, "I wanted to go up to him and punch him, but I knew I couldn't do that in court.

"The reaction of the family is that we are glad this year is over," the uncle said. "Justice was served, and it was served with mercy."

Judge Gilbert Gutierrez had said, before sentencing Sholes, that he was "trying to temper justice with mercy." Gutierrez read from police reports that Sholes, a carpenter, and his drinking buddy Michael Dewey had been on a daylong binge of drinking and shooting that ended with the deaths.

Jamie Sholes testified on behalf of her cousin, saying, "Since the accident, he has turned his life around, going to AA and therapy."

Turning again, with his back to the judge, Tobias Sholes apologized to Dewey, who was injured in the wreck, and to other friends and family, who numbered about 30.

"I want to thank you for standing by me," he said.

In contrast, more than 65 friends and family of the Floreses packed their side of the courtroom, some wearing T-shirts with pictures of the brother and sister.

Some spoke in English, and some spoke in Spanish. They described their profound sorrow at the loss of the exemplary brother and sister, who were on their way to work one of their several jobs about 5 a.m. when they were killed. They lamented how the pair's dreams had been dashed and their hopes snuffed.

"We still don't understand why this happened," said 11-year-old Abraham Wence, of Fort Lupton, who lowered the microphone so he and his 8-year-old brother, Josue Wence, could talk with the judge.

"We don't understand why innocent people have to pay for the mistakes that bad people make," the older boy told Gutierrez.

According to the Colorado Department of Corrections, inmates serving determinate sentences typically go before the parole board for the first time after serving half their sentence. By that rule of thumb, Sholes might go before the parole board after serving 18 years of his 36-year sentence.

Sholes faced a maximum sentence of 48 years in prison after pleading guilty in November to two counts of vehicular homicide, a felony.

Gutierrez's sentence reflects a trend among Colorado judges toward tougher penalties for drunken drivers, said Gaylen Matzen, victims assistance coordinator for the state office of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.

"We are just glad to see a sentence on par with the crime that was committed." Matzen said. "Neither 36 years nor 48 years is going to bring back Zuri and Isai."

garnerj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5421