Former San Antonio Police Officer David Seaton was escorted in handcuffs to a jail cell Wednesday after a jury sentenced him to 15 years in prison for the death of a colleague.

Seaton, 45, had no visible reaction as the manslaughter sentence was read on the second anniversary of the day officer Robert Davis was taken off life support.

Seaton's wife and two daughters cried silently.

“It's meaningful that on his two-year anniversary we got some justice and some closure,” Davis' widow, Simona, said outside the courtroom. “We'll always have to live with ... that loss.”

It took jurors about four hours to return the sentence. Seaton had been free on bond since his indictment on two counts of aggravated assault by a police officer, which was punishable by up to life in prison, and one count of manslaughter, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years.

The jury gave him a relatively stiffer sentence for the manslaughter count than the assault convictions, for which he was ordered to serve concurrent sentences of 10 years each.

Jurors also decided that Seaton's patrol car was used as a “deadly weapon” the evening of Nov. 28, 2008, when authorities say he sped to a low-priority shoplifting call at about 100 mph, running a red light at Potranco Road and Hunt Lane without overhead lights or a siren.

Because of the finding, he will have to serve at least half of the 15-year manslaughter sentence before he's eligible for parole.

After hitting civilian motorist Darrell Lampkin at the intersection, destroying his car and causing severe injuries, Seaton's vehicle swerved into Davis, 26, who was in the road clearing flares from a previous wreck.

Seaton also received severe injuries, including brain damage. He was fired from the Police Department, which recommended criminal charges.

Prosecutors Charles Rich and Nicole Thornbro declined to suggest a specific sentence during closing arguments Wednesday morning but said probation would be inappropriate.

“He is not a victim of circumstance,” Thornbro said, pointing to SAPD records she said showed a history of speeding to low-priority calls. “He is a victim of the choices and decisions he made.

“When you roll the dice enough, one of those times your number comes up.”

Defense attorney Carolyn Wentland appeared to be on the verge of tears as she pointed out that Seaton didn't wake up that day intending to kill a co-worker who he considered a friend.

She and co-counsel Roland Garcia urged jurors not to punish Seaton for going to trial — or for their defense tactics, which included allegations that Police Department policy and the civilian motorist were to blame.

“At this point, I don't think he cares what you do to him,” Wentland said, emphasizing that her client is extremely remorseful despite not being good at showing emotion. “But who you are going to punish by sending him to prison is going to be his family.”

The trial already sent enough of a message to SAPD that it needs to take more steps to prevent overburdened officers from speeding, defense attorneys said. A prison sentence, they said, would accomplish little.

As they have previously, prosecutors responded that the Police Department was not on trial. The message, they said, needed to be sent to Seaton, who they described as an anomaly in the department.

“This is not about SAPD stepping it up to calls,” Rich said. “We expect that.”

But the excessive speed at which Seaton was driving that night made his police unit “like a loaded gun,” Rich added.

“This was not an accident,” he said. “This (wreck) wasn't an ‘if.' It was a ‘when.'”

Seaton initially was set to be sentenced for the wreck one year ago. In exchange for a no contest plea to manslaughter, prosecutors agreed to a 10-year sentence. They would let state District Judge Sid Harle decide whether the term should be served in prison or on probation.

But Seaton later fired the attorneys who brokered the deal and asked to rescind the no contest plea, instead taking his chances with a jury. The previous deal was only briefly mentioned during the three-week trial.