A 24-year-old man who was driving 98 mph before he slammed into another car and killed three children on a West Dallas road was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday.

Xavier Taylor (Dallas County jail )

Xavier Taylor was convicted this week of three counts of criminally negligent homicide. He was tried on three counts of manslaughter, but a Dallas County jury found him guilty of the lesser charge.

Taylor was speeding on Singleton Boulevard when the Nissan Sentra he was driving slammed into a Dodge Stratus around 5:25 p.m. on March 28, 2016.

The impact killed Pamela Maritza Mendoza, 11, Bryan Alexander Mendoza, 7, and Lizbeth Edith Mendoza, 3. Their mother, Maricela Mendoza, and her oldest daughter survived.

Mendoza said she was "surprised" by the jury's decision to convict Taylor on a lesser charge.

"You know why she was surprised?" prosecutor Randel Cross asked during closing arguments. "Because she was hurt."

"Let's try not to surprise the Mendoza family again," Cross said.

The same Dallas jury sentenced Taylor on Wednesday to 10 years in prison in all three cases and issued him a $10,000 fine. The sentences will be served concurrently.

"What you just got is the guilt trip," defense attorney George Ashford told the jury after Cross' arguments.

Ashford said his client wasn't drinking or texting or on drugs at the time of the crash. He said Taylor doesn't have a prior criminal record or even prior speeding tickets, and a prison sentence would be too harsh.

"Is anything accomplished by punishment for punishment's sake?" Ashford asked. "Is a prison sentence going to make this family whole? No."

The hole in the Mendoza family was palpable during the sentencing portion of the trial.

Three of the Mendoza children were killed in the crash: 3-year-okd Lizbeth, 11-year-old Pamela and 7-year-old Bryan. (Mendoza family)

Jurors watched videos of the children. Bryan grinned in front of a birthday cake. Pamela kicked and punched the air during a taekwondo competition. Little Lizbeth, mimicking her dad, smashed a hammer on tiles in the backyard.

Their parents laughed at the videos of their kids — then choked back tears while testifying about their loss.

Maricela Mendoza said home feels quiet now. She misses the way her youngest children greeted her when she returned from running errands.

"I'd come back and when I was opening the door, they would always hide and they would scare me," Mendoza said through a translator.

She said she would scold them for startling her, but now she misses it.

Xavier Taylor leaves Judge Ernest White's courtroom, 194th Judicial District Court, after being sentenced 10 years in his criminally negligent homicide trial Wednesday August 23, 2017. Taylor was driving 98 mph in a 35 mph zone that resulted in a crash that killed three children. (Ron Baselice / Staff photographer)

Arturo Mendoza said Lizbeth loved to follow him around while he did yard work.

"When we were gathering leaves, she would help me pick up leaves," he said.

The 3-year-old got a kick out of the work.

And Bryan tried to stay up late to watch soccer with his dad. When the boy got sleepy, he splashed his face.

The 7-year-old would turn to his father and say, "Papi, put some water on your eyes so you don't fall asleep," Arturo Mendoza said.

The surviving Mendoza child, 14-year-old Dulce, sat on a wooden bench in the courtroom listening to testimony during sentencing. She clutched the leash of Roper, the courthouse service dog.

Prosecutor Jennifer Balido argued that Taylor hasn't shown remorse for the children's lives he took.

"They were more than bodies in a car," Balido said during closing arguments, holding up a photo of the wreckage.

"They were more than pictures on a page," she said, showing the jury a photo of the smiling children. "They were living, breathing children."

After the verdict was read, Balido hugged the parents, who wiped tears from their faces. Then the Mendozas walked out with their only living child.