Matthew Spirito shook with heavy sobs in a New London courtroom on Thursday afternoon as he was sentenced to 3½ years in prison and five years of probation for fatally striking a 25-year-old woman with his car in North Stonington three years ago and driving away.

On Oct. 9, 2018, Krystal Riske of Pawcatuck was walking on Route 2 about 7 p.m. when she was struck by an SUV that veered 2 feet and 6 inches into the breakdown lane, slamming her body into a stone wall. The driver, Spirito, drove away. He told police he thought he’d hit a deer.

After the accident, Spirito drove to his girlfriend’s house, changed his clothes, switched to another vehicle and drove to Foxwoods Resort Casino. He told police that while he was at the casino, he saw an online newspaper article about a hit-and-run accident. He turned himself in to police at 8 a.m. the next morning, according to police and court testimony.

That same morning, Riske died of her injuries at Hartford Hospital, where she had been flown by Life Star helicopter.

In court on Thursday, a visibly distraught Spirito, 34, of Northborough, Mass., apologized to members of Riske’s family — her mother, her older sister, her younger brother and her grandmother — who were inconsolable as they awaited his sentencing.

“I do want to genuinely let you know from the bottom of my heart — as a son, as a husband, as a father, as a grandson, as a member of a family — that I am so sorry for the pain that I have caused you and your family,” he said.

He promised he would never forget all the things that Riske’s sister, Nicole Riske, asked him to remember about her: that her favorite holiday was Halloween, that she loved camouflage, that her nails were painted black the day she died, that her birthday was just before Christmas and that she loved horror movies.

“I hope that every day you think of her the same way we think of her,” Nicole Riske said through tears.

She also told Spirito she hopes he remembers how much one decision can “disrupt worlds” and that he be held responsible for his actions, which she said she may never forgive.

“I just want you to be accountable. Accountable for what you did and for the choices that you made," she said. "I am so angry. Because what you get from here, I know is just never going to be enough."

Riske’s sister and their mother, Rhandi, spoke in court and recalled her love of animals, passion for nature and her kindness toward everyone she met.

“She was just such a good soul that this earth needed,” her sister said.

Her mother, wearing a camouflage shirt to honor her daughter’s favorite pattern, called Krystal her “peace-loving, tree-hugging flower child.” She told Spirito that she wasn’t sure if she’d ever forgive him, but she’d never forget what he did.

Spirito nodded his head “yes” in her direction when she told him that if she could choose his sentence, “I would want you to live in a pine box because that's what she does” and called him a coward.

Her son, Krystal’s younger brother, told Spirito that he doesn’t forgive him but doesn’t blame him, either.

Spirito’s attorney, Peter Catania, told the court that Spirito is a remorseful man with a wife and children who felt he deserved to serve time in prison for what he did.

Michelle Spirito, his wife, spoke to the court and said that her husband has always been remorseful for the accident. She said he wakes up with night terrors screaming, “I didn’t mean to.”

She also apologized to the family for their loss and said the accident is not a reflection of the man her husband is. “It just breaks my heart, this was a horrific thing but this is not who he is...”

Spirito, who had taken Adderall — a controlled substance he did not have a prescription for — before the accident, had been released on a $100,000 bond. As he was led out of court by marshals, he whispered “I’m sorry” to his sobbing wife.

His probation includes zero tolerance of any illegal substance use or motor vehicle violations, annual donations to a victim service’s fund in Riske’s memory while he is on probation, conditions that he be fully employed or in school and that he pay restitution for medical and funeral expenses that resulted from the accident.

He faced a maximum sentence of 20 years for the charge of evading responsibility.

Prosecutor Rafael Bustamante said that he knew there was nothing he could do to bring the family closure. “I know there’s nothing I can do to give you what you actually want, which is Krystal back.”

He said he wanted Spirito to be held accountable for the fact that he ended a young woman’s life and fled the scene, but also needed to take into account that Spirito has no criminal record besides the accident.

In handing down his sentence, Judge Hunchu Kwak recognized that Spirito turned himself in and appeared to be truly remorseful. He said the knowledge that Spirito had taken someone’s life was more punishment than any time he could serve in prison, but acknowledged that he did deserve to serve time for leaving the scene of the accident.

“The defendant made a huge mistake and he compounded that mistake by leaving the scene,” Kwak said. “If he had stayed, we would not be here.”

Spirito’s father told the court that he believed in his heart that if Spirito knew he’d hit a person, he would have stopped.

t.hartz@theday.com