FRENCH VALLEY -- Federico Baltazar, his hands shackled in front of him, turned around in the courtroom Friday and spoke to the family of a Murrieta bicyclist he hit with a car in March before driving away.

"I just want you guys to understand how sorry I am," Baltazar said, fighting back tears. "If I could do it all again, I'd pick him up myself and take him to the hospital."

Outside the courtroom, the family of Gerry Marinucci, 47, -- who remains in a coma -- said they are grateful that Baltazar shows remorse and that his apology helps.

"I think it's heartfelt," Marinucci's sister, Gina Gronlund, said. "But he can't possibly understand what he's done."

When Gronlund addressed Judge Albert Wojcik, she said she would like to see Baltazar spend a week at the hospital seeing what the still-comatose Marinucci and his family endure every day because of what he did.

Wojcik told the family that he wished he had a sentence he could impose on Baltazar that would bring back Marinucci's health. "I would do all I could in my power to do it, but there just isn't (such a sentence)," the judge told them.

Wojcik then sentenced Baltazar to three years in state prison, one year less than the maximum he could impose.

Deputy District Attorney John Monterosso said after the hearing that Baltazar deserves the maximum sentence, but it was not unreasonable for the court to sentence him to three years.

"(Baltazar's) remorse seems sincere and it is rare that we see that," the prosecutor said. "Like I told the judge, it's something we don't see in this job very often."

A county Probation Department report authored after Baltazar pleaded guilty in March to felony hit-and-run, states that Baltazar has three previous convictions for driving without a license, Monterosso said.

He also has a misdemeanor conviction for evading a peace officer in Los Angeles County from about a year ago, the prosecutor said.

"He shouldn't be driving," Monterosso said. "This wouldn't have happened if he hadn't ignored other court orders not to drive.

"He shouldn't have been on the road that morning," he said.

But Baltazar was on the road, specifically on California Oaks Road, the morning of March 17.

The gray BMW he was driving hit Marinucci, who was in the bike lane near Lincoln Avenue, taking his typical morning bicycle ride.

The car hit Marinucci from behind, knocking him from his bike. Baltazar didn't stop, instead dragging the bike more than a mile before dumping it on Via De Gema Linda.

Baltazar was arrested the next day and pleaded guilty directly to the judge March 30 on one count of hit-and-run causing severe permanent bodily injury and one count of driving on a suspended license.

Marinucci is still hospitalized, in a coma, but is "taking baby steps of improvement," Gronlund said outside the courtroom Monday.

"He has opened his eyes periodically, but (the doctors) consider it a reflex," his sister said.

The family said they are "extremely grateful" to the community for the tremendous amount of support and prayers they have received.

Marinucci's wife, Laura, was not able to make the court hearing Monday. The family says she is doing all she can to get by, working as much as she can to help pay extraordinary hospital bills, visiting her husband and raising the couple's three daughters, ages 11, 10, and 7. The couple recently returned from a trip to Russia where they adopted their two youngest daughters.

"She amazes us every day," Gronlund said of Marinucci's wife.

Marinucci's mother, Edith, spoke to the judge before the sentencing. She said it is "heartbreaking … it brings tears to my eyes every time I see him laying there (at the hospital)."

Carla Marinucci, another sister of the victim, told the judge that her family "received a life sentence" when her brother was hit and left in a coma.

She spoke strongly outside the courtroom about how this case shows a weakness in the law regarding people who drive without a license or insurance. "This underscores changes that need to be made to the law," Carla Marinucci said.

"(Baltazar) should have received four years (in prison)," Gronlund said. "It was not an accident for him to get behind the wheel of that car. He knew he shouldn't have been driving and he still did."

How you can help

Donations with Gerard M. Marinucci noted on each check can be mailed to International Christian Adoptions, 41745 Rider Way #2, Temecula, CA 92590. Another trust fund to assist the family has been established at the Murrieta branch of Temecula Valley Bank, 41500 Ivy St.

Contact staff writer John Hall at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.