Ashawntae Rosemon isn't the easiest drunk-driver-turned-killer to forgive.

After being led by deputies into the Multnomah County courtroom to plea guilty to the death of bicyclist Dustin Finney, Rosemon did his best to avoid eye contact with the dead man's family.

And although he admitted during the hearing that he knew he struck Finney in a Division Street bicycle lane and then left the scene, moments later Rosemon claimed that he didn't know he'd struck anyone.

Nonetheless, Finney's mother sat in the courtroom, agreeing to leniency for Rosemon, 18, because she wants to give him a second chance. Judge Michael McShane sentenced Rosemon to five years in prison -- a sentence that McShane noted easily could have been longer if not for the grace of the dead man's family.

His car then struck another cyclist, Kevin Phomma, 17. Finney, whose body was launched into the air and scraped along the pavement for 50 yards or more, died. Phomma suffered bruises and scrapes.

Rosemon drove off, ditching the car about three miles away. Just after 2 a.m., police found Rosemon walking with cuts and glass dust on him -- presumably from the car's smashed in windshield. Rosemon claimed he knew nothing of the crash. He told police that he'd been jumped, and someone had driven off with the car.

Three hours after the crash, he had a blood alcohol level of .16 percent.

Today, Rosemon hung his head low and paused for several minutes before agreeing to the facts of the case. He pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, felony hit and run, the vehicular assault of a bicyclist and driving under the influence of intoxicants.

The victim's mother, Kristi Finney-Dunn, brought her son's ashes to the courtroom in a wooden box. As she spoke, she placed her hand on the box.

She wanted the defendant to know about her son. He regularly pedaled 26 miles roundtrip to Portland Community College, where he was studying environmental sciences.

"He loved to bicycle," Finney-Dunn said. "He thought that it was treating the world respectfully."

She said her son donated to charities such as Planned Parenthood, Mercy Corps and Greenpeace. He helped the homeless. He'd joined the organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He lived a full and active life.

"Nothing stopped him until you struck him," Finney-Dunn said. "...And then you left him like a piece of garbage on the dirty street of Division."

She is haunted by images she imagines of the crash. After reviewing the police reports, she now knows the definition of "body scuff."

"And yet much of my sleeplessness is when I'm thinking of you," Finney-Dunn said. "Sometimes I think of you more than I think of my own dead son. ...What brought you to this place? ...Will you wallow in self pity? Will you blame others?"

Finney-Dunn urged Rosemon to live a sober life and take advantage of any prison programs that might help him become a better person.

"I don't hate you," Finney-Dunn said. "I could. Sometimes I wish I did. But instead I want you to make something good of yourself. ...You're a very young man with your whole life ahead of you."

It's unclear how many of Finney-Dunn's words Rosemon took in. At one point, Finney-Dunn stopped speaking and asked Rosemon to pay attention. She said she wasn't sure he was listening.

Dustin Finney's sister and uncle also spoke of their grief and their wishes for Rosemon to become a better person. When it was Rosemon's turn to speak, he pushed aside the statement he'd written. He sobbed, and his words were barely perceptible.

"I know I shouldn't have been drinking and driving," Rosemon said. "I never wanted to hurt anybody."

But Rosemon wasn't quite ready to take full responsibility for what he'd done -- despite that he'd pleaded to knowingly leaving the scene of the injury crash.

"I didn't know I hit anybody until I was arrested," he said.

Rosemon said he drank because he was upset his father hasn't been a part of his life.

Rosemon's will have the possibility of earning good time, which means he could end up spending four years in prison. Every six months he must write Finney's family a letter that explains the steps he's taken to become a better person. He will be on post-prison supervision for three years, and must undergo an alcohol evaluation and treatment. He'll also lose his driver's license for life.