Shaquan Lee-Seales, who barely had reached adulthood when he shot and killed innocent bystander Gilberto Olivencia on a New London Street during a drug dispute in December 2015, sat hunched at the defense table during his sentencing hearing Thursday in New London Superior Court.

The now 23-year-old Lee-Seales had pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter with a firearm and third-degree robbery in the midst of his murder trial in January. The prosecution, re-evaluating the strength of the state's case prior to calling key civilian witnesses to testify, had offered Lee-Seales the opportunity to plead guilty to reduced charges in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence.

Seven judicial marshals stood in the courtroom Thursday as relatives of Lee-Seales and Olivencia sat on opposite sides of the gallery.

Lee-Seales, wearing tan prison scrubs, stood to make a brief statement before Judge Hillary B. Strackbein imposed the sentence.

"I would just like to say I'm sorry to my family," he said. "They raised me better than that. And I'm sorry to the victim's family."

His words did not comfort Olivencia's mother, Lorraine Badilla, who has watched Lee-Seales smile at his family during dozens of court appearances and heard them say to him, every time he was led back into the lockup area, "We love you, Shay." Badilla chose not to speak at the sentencing, but her daughter, Stephanie Lopez, told the judge her mother has given up on life since losing her son, "Bebe," and that Badilla "stays up at night just to cry in silence."

Lopez read a lengthy victim impact statement in which she described Lee-Seales as a "cold-hearted coward" and "parasite," and called out his family for laughing and taunting her family during court appearances. Olivencia was 29 years old and had two young children when Lee-Seales shot him while attempting to kill a fellow drug dealer, according to testimony. Lee-Seales is also a father to one child.

"He did not murder my brother because he was protecting his life or the life of his child, but simply because he wanted to make a name for himself and send a message that he is not to be messed with," Lopez said.

According to court documents and testimony, shortly before 11 p.m. on Dec. 10, 2015, Lee-Seales got out of a car near the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Grand Street and fired multiple shots toward Olivencia and several others following an earlier encounter on State Pier Road, where Lee-Seales allegedly had assaulted and robbed a 17-year-old drug dealer who "disrespected" him.

Police found Olivencia lying on the front porch of 8 Grand St., losing a large amount of blood and unable to speak about who shot him. He was pronounced dead at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. Police said they recovered a cigarette pack containing Lee-Seales' thumbprint at the scene along with other forensic evidence and interviewed witnesses who identified Lee-Seales as the shooter.

Prosecutor Paul J. Narducci said he understands Lee-Seales' sentence of 25 years in prison, suspended after 15 years served, followed by five years of probation, is not acceptable to the victim's family and not even acceptable to Lee-Seales' family. Narducci said he takes responsibility for the sentence, which he considers fair under the circumstances.

On Wednesday, the day before his sentencing hearing, Lee-Seales notified the court that he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea, saying he was unaware when he accepted the deal that he would not be getting time off for good behavior. At the beginning of Thursday's hearing, his attorney, Sebastian O. DeSantis, said Lee-Seales decided to withdraw the motion and accept the sentence. Had he been convicted of murder at trial, Lee-Seales faced a sentence of up to 65 years.

Having been convicted of a violent crime, Lee-Seales is required to serve 85 percent of his sentence. Because he had pleaded guilty to a firearms charge, five years of his sentence is a mandatory minimum and he is not eligible for any reduction of his prison stint through the Department of Correction's Risk Reduction Earned Credit program.

DeSantis said Seales has maintained his innocence but that he does have empathy.

"It looked like the evidence was going his way, but I think he did the right thing by pleading guilty," DeSantis said.

He said if Lee-Seales was smiling in court, it's "a nervous habit."

"One of the things I've talked about with him was the lifestyle he was leading," DeSantis said. "He has a son. This is impacting his son. This is impacting his family. He's aware of that."

Judge Strackbein acknowledged that when a loved one is murdered, there's nothing anyone can do to fix it. But she asked Olivencia's family to think about what he would have wanted as they attempt to move on with their lives.

Strackbein told Lee-Seales that at 23, he already has traveled a dangerous road of drug dealing and gun violence. She said children do what they see, and asked him to think about whether he wants his son to grow up in an environment of danger and destruction.

k.florin@theday.com