State police and court officials would never know the blood alcohol level of Andre Nichols, who had been drinking before he crashed his car on May 31, 2015, while trying to merge on to Route 2A from Interstate 395.

He left the scene where his close friend Jamar Howard, 28, was pronounced dead on the roadside.

Another passenger, a woman, was paralyzed below the waist, and three others, including the mother of his children, were injured.

Though he was never charged with driving under the influence or vehicular manslaughter, Nichols still received a seven-year prison sentence for evading responsibility resulting in a death and misconduct with a motor vehicle at his sentencing Friday before Judge John M. Newson in Superior Court in Norwich.

In addition, he lost the respect of Howard's family, who packed the courtroom with supporters Friday and asked prosecutor Christa Baker to display autopsy and crash scene photos on the projector so that Nichols could see what he had done.

Howard's mother, Antoinette Howard, also aired a video of Howard lovingly playing with his young nephew because, she said, it was better than just talking about him.

She had Howard, one of her four children, when she was just 19, the mother said, and he was like a best friend.

"What bothers me most," she said to Nichols, "is that no one was giving him comfort while he lay dying."

Howard was unconscious, had a faint pulse and was breathing raggedly when police arrived. 

They held his head so that he didn't choke on his vomit and did the best they could while waiting for the ambulance, according to Baker.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, and his family would never know if he could have been saved if Nichols had immediately called for help.

Wearing T-shirts that said, "RIP Jamar" and "I am my brother's keeper," the family members walked to the front of the courtroom one by one and cried their way through victim impact statements. 

Howard's father, Ronnie Howard, said the thing that bothered him most was that Nichols never apologized.

"You should step up and be a man and apologize to my family," the father said.

Defense attorney Paul Chinigo said that Nichols had "cried like a baby" at their first meeting and holds himself responsible, "as he is," for the crash.

Chinigo said Nichols doesn't remember how he got home that night and that he must have been in shock.

"He thought he was showing you the ultimate respect by staying in jail when his family wanted to bond him out," Chinigo said to Howard's family. 

Nichols, whose only prior conviction was for breach of peace, cried as he read a letter of apology, then turned to Howard's father and told him he had been unable to say sorry before because the court had ordered him to have no contact with the family.

"Sometimes I say to myself, 'I wish it was me who had died,'" he said.

The judge told the family he wished he had the power to restore their lives to what they were before the crash and that he hoped they would at least get some closure now that the sentencing is complete. 

Newson sentenced Howard to 15 years in prison, suspended after seven years served, followed by five years probation and set a number of conditions, including substance abuse and mental health evaluation and treatment.

He said he was not ordering restitution because there are several civil lawsuits pending.

The judge ordered Nichols to perform 300 hours of community service while on probation.

"A man or woman shows what their true colors are under the most extreme circumstances," Newson said.

Nichols had left his friends that night without calling for help, and despite his claim of no memory, told police he didn't answer the door when they first arrived at his house because he was afraid of what would happen, Newson said.

"Up until today, everything I've seen about you framed you as an individual who was only concerned about you," the judge said. 

Once located by police, Nichols said the group had come from several bars on Bank Street in New London, according to the warrant for his arrest.

Nichols claimed two speeding vehicles had tried to pass him, causing him to lose control of the Hyundai, which police said had crashed into and over the center median guardrails on Route 2A and flipped over, landing on its roof on the westbound side of Route 2A.

k.florin@theday.com