A San Diego woman who rear-ended and killed another driver while texting and speeding on the 405 freeway in Westminster was sentenced Friday to six years in prison, after a judge determined that she has yet to show remorse for causing the fatal collision.

A tearful apology to the family of Deanna Mauer, the 23-year-old Fountain Valley woman killed in the 2011 collision, wasn’t enough to sway Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven D. Bromberg from sentencing Jorene Nicolas to the maximum prison term available.

“Ever since the accident, not a day has gone by where I don’t think about your loss,” Nicolas told Mauer’s family. “Just the thought of you being without your daughter has been killing me every day.”

Nicolas, 29, did not acknowledge that she was texting or speeding, but claimed that a witness had stopped her from providing CPR to Mauer in the minutes after the crash due to concern that her spine was damaged.

“Everything happened in the blink of an eye,” Nicolas told the court. “Living day to day with the knowledge of what I did and the pain I caused is unbearable.”

Mauer was stopped in near-standstill, late-morning traffic when Nicolas rear-ended her vehicle.

Nicolas told witnesses that she had been driving to meet her boyfriend for lunch.

Evidence showed Nicolas was driving 85 mph and that she had continually used her cellphone while she was on the freeway, including sending a series of eight texts right up to the crash.

Bromberg said the level of inattentive driving by Nicolas was comparable to driving under the influence.

While the judge noted that Nicolas has no prior driving citations, he felt that Nicolas’ “lack of remorse has been deafening.”

Had Nicolas taken more responsibility during her comments in Friday’s hearing, the judge noted that he likely would have given her a lesser sentence.

“She had the key, she didn’t use it,” Bromberg said.

Several of Mauer’s family members told the judge about how they have been impacted by a young woman they described as bright, affectionate, strong-willed and intensely devoted to her chosen sport.

A former star softball player at Fountain Valley High School and San Jose State, Mauer was an assistant coach at San Juan Hills High School in San Juan Capistrano at the time her death

“The light of my life has gone out, and I’ve been left in darkness,” Howard Mauer, Deanna’s father, told the judge.

Mauer’s family was particularly dismayed by remarks made by Nicolas during a television interview prior to the recent trial, in which she seemed to blame Mauer for the crash.

“I came here every day so I could fight for my daughter, because you were blaming her and that is what made me angry,” Dawn Mauer, Deanna’s mother, told Nicolas. “Yes this was an accident, but one that could have been prevented if you weren’t looking at your phone and speeding.”

Nicolas showed no obvious emotion as her sentence was handed down and as she was taken back to the jail, said “I love you, thank you,” to a family member as she walked through a side door and exited the courtroom.

Nicolas previously had a difficult time keeping emotions in check, erupting in tears and sobbing several times last month as a jury found her guilty.

It was the second time that Nicolas was tried for Mauer’s death. An earlier jury deadlocked, leading the judge to declare a mistrial.

Mauer’s family members say they are hopeful that her death will force a discussion about how to deal with people who text while driving.

“How many more lives will be lost before we start a campaign to stop this?” Howard Mauer asked the court.

Contact the writer: semery@ocregister.com