Last October, Emmanuel Pourmand, 22, and Joseph Inocencio, 19, were racing down Branham Lane in one of the frequent drag races that plague that quiet stretch of road. Pourmand lost control of his vehicle and hit a Volkswagen driven by Alyson Snow, 20, killing her instantly.

Pourmand and Inocencio later pleaded no contest to charges of vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving. On Friday, a judge disagreed. He sentenced Pourmand to the maximum nine years in prison, while Inocencio received six years and eight months.

The ruling reflects efforts by the authorities to eliminate drag racing in San Jose. At the time of the tragedy, the SJPD said that drag racing has increasingly become a problem in South San Jose, where youngsters gather on the weekends to race along the flat roads there. Fatalities are not unusual either. Alyson Snow was the fifth casualty on that otherwise quiet stretch of road.
Read More at KLIV.