MARTINEZ — Family members of child killed by an Alameda County deputy’s wife who was driving intoxicated while out on bail for another DUI, questioned whether she was getting preferential treatment, as the woman accepted a plea deal that will require her to spend about two years in state prison.

Yarenit Malihan, 40, of Pleasanton, pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter with a multiple-victim enhancement Friday, in a plea deal with Contra Costa prosecutors. She was formally sentenced to seven years, but with good behavior, she will only have to serve half of that. Additionally, she was given about a year and a half credit for time served, meaning she will likely be eligible for release by early 2020.

The mother, father, great-aunt, and grandmother and grandfather of 3-year-old Elijah Dunn — who died weeks before his fourth birthday in a horrific Sept. 9, 2016 freeway crash — expressed shock and outrage minutes before the sentence was announced Friday afternoon.

“I am begging you. Three years? No. That’s not enough,” said Christina Estrada, Elijah’s grandmother, through sobs. “(Malihan) is a danger. She has absolutely zero remorse.”

“My family is forced to be members of a club we did not sign up for,” Crystal Manoiki, Elijah’s mother, said in her statement to the court. She said her life has been a “living hell” since the crash.

Manoiki was traveling with the toddler and her two other children when their vehicle ran out of gas and pulled onto the shoulder of northbound Interstate 680 near Bollinger Canyon Road in San Ramon about 6:20 p.m.

Authorities said that Malihan was driving an SUV under the influence of drugs when she rear-ended the family’s disabled car. Elijah died of his injuries that night. His mother and his 1-year-old sister and 11-year-old brother were also injured.

A sentence of seven years is not out of the ordinary for a manslaughter conviction, but even Judge Patricia Scanlon — moments before approving the deal — appeared to agree with the family that it was too short.

“The punishment is simply not enough for those who drive under the influence, especially those who do it over and over again,” Scanlon said, later adding that it was analogous to someone opening fire onto traffic. “I often tell drunk drivers they’re the most dangerous people in my courtroom.”

The judge also suggested that the family might consider lobbying state lawmakers to revisit sentencing laws for DUI fatality cases.

Malihan read a brief apology before she was sentenced, saying, “I would do anything to turn back time,” and remarking that it had been difficult for her to be “haunted” by the “reality that I took an innocent life.”

It was a strikingly emotional courtroom setting with tensions running high. A large group of supporters of both Elijah and Malihan attended, with many in the former group wearing shirts saying “Justice for Elijah.” The judge and courtroom deputies admonished those in the audience to turn off their cell phones and not lose their temper in court.

When the family played a video montage of the young boy that showed him laughing and giggling with family members to the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” everyone — the judge, court staff, media and supporters of both Elijah and the defendant — appeared visually shaken. Malihan appeared fixated on the footage and pinched her chin as it played.

“My little boy was on his way home and now he’s gone,” Elijah’s dad, Eric Dunn, told the court. “He never deserved what happened to him… it’s something I think about every day.”