SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Roberto Vellanoweth was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and 8 months in prison for his role in a drunken driving crash that killed four people.

A judge also said he will have to pay nearly $15,000 in restitution.

Vellanoweth was found guilty in July of four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter.

He was involved in a March 2007 wreck on South Land Park Drive in south Sacramento that killed Shanice Patrice Carter, Brittanya Metchelle Nash, Brizchelle Ta'Corra Rice and Rice's 19-month-old son, Kamall Dino Savant Osby.

Some of the victims' family members spoke Tuesday in court.

"He feels or has no remorse. There was never an apology to the families," April Rice said in court. Rice lost her two daughters, Nash and Rice, and grandson in the wreck.

"Never, ever did we get a look of concern, a nod, anything at all from the Vellanoweth family," Marie Green, grandmother to one of the victims, said in court.

Vellanoweth stated that he did feel remorse -- but not until the end of Tuesday's court hearing.

"No words can express the sense of remorse that I feel for the tragedies that was caused that day. This tragedy has deeply impacted many lives, including my own family, and I will have to live with this for the rest of my life," Vellanoweth said in court.

However, Judge Patrick Marlette did not allow Vellanoweth's words to loosen the sentence.

"Well, I know you weren't exercising mercy when you tried to shift responsibility for the death of the people that you killed to those people themselves," Judge Patrick Marlette said.

After the court appearance, the victims' family members expressed their relief about the sentencing.

"I'm thankful he got the max today," Rice said outside the courtroom. "I did not accept his apology. It was not sincere … I do see it as an excuse. And as far as them not communicating with the family, they didn't in the beginning, they didn't apologize in the beginning, no remorse in the beginning, until he was found guilty."