COLUSA – A trainee driver, who crashed a "gamblers' special" bus into a ditch in a horrific accident that killed 11 people and injured dozens more, was sentenced Wednesday to 26 years and four months in state prison.

Members of the Hmong and Iu Mien communities from Sacramento looked on as a judge in rural Colusa County's historic 1861 courthouse set the punishment for Quintin Joey Watts of Stockton.

Watts, 53, was convicted Oct. 8 on 11 counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and 21 counts of causing great bodily injury.

The jury verdict came about a year after Watts lost control of his bus in October 2008 while driving 41 people to the Colusa Casino Resort.

At the 5 p.m. sentencing Wednesday, the victims' relatives watched as Watts rose, turned and faced them, crying, pleading for understanding.

"I would like to address everyone out there," said Watts, who stood, shackled, in an orange striped jail suit. "I want you to know that I'm very sorry. I cannot take back what happened. What happened was not intentional. It was a big mistake."

But Colusa Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Thompson was neither swayed by Watts nor by a plea from defense attorney Albert Smith for a nine-year sentence on grounds that Watts was a tired, overworked employee who crashed the bus while trying to do his job.

"The defendant has demonstrated little or no appreciation for his role in bringing about this immense tragedy," Thompson said.

Watts will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence. He could have received a maximum of 76 years in prison in the accident that killed, injured and psychologically traumatized his mostly elderly immigrant passengers.

The bus was headed from Sacramento for an outing of casino gambling when an apparently exhausted Watts swerved the bus off a straight, narrow country road near Williams and plowed into a ditch.

The grim scene was etched into the mind of Colusa resident Yer Vang, who went there after her brother in Sacramento, Say Vang, called to tell her both their parents were on the bus.

Her father, Xee Hue Vang, died after being rushed to a hospital.

Her mother, Mao Lee Yang, 76, died seven months later from complications of injuries she suffered in the crash.

"Coming here takes you back in time," Vang said as she appeared for the sentencing. "It makes me feel like I was on the bus, living through the whole thing. It was horrible."

Vang's parents savored gambling as entertainment after retiring from a family business selling Hmong art and artifacts. She reluctantly accepted the sentence. She said she thought the driver deserved more time behind bars but didn't believe Watts intended to cause such tragedy.

In addressing the court, Say Vang stared directly at Watts and the two men locked eyes.

"May God forgive you," Say Vang said sternly.

Afterward, he said, "I wanted him (Watts) to look at me, face to face and realize the suffering he caused. I'm happy for that."

The length of the sentence was barely on the mind of Paul Vang, who lost his mother, Lou Her, in the crash. "She never came back," he said.

A statement read on his behalf in court mourned the loss of a family matriarch for five sons and 33 grandchildren.

Watts' boss, bus company owner Daniel Cobb, also was killed in the accident. Thirty people were injured, 21 seriously.

Cobb's daughters, Elena Cobb, 44, and Bernice Quinones, 46, said they came to the sentencing to honor their father, a hardworking man who ran the family bus company for 35 years.

"The last time we saw him was just before he left," Cobb said. "He was laughing and joking. He loved what he did. He loved the bus business."

But the night of the crash, Cobb turned the wheel of the bus over to Watts, a former commercial truck driver for hazardous materials. He was not licensed to be driving a bus.

Police initially arrested him on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. But toxicology tests were negative.

Prosecutors ultimately concluded that Watts, 53, was driving while exhausted after sleeping no more than three or four hours in the 27 hours before the accident.

During the trial, three witnesses testified they saw him falling asleep at the wheel.

"I know if my dad knew he was tired, he wouldn't have wanted him to drive," Quinones said. "And the way my dad cared about the people on his bus, he would want him (Watts) to serve any sentence the judge gave him."

But Cobb expressed sympathy for Watts, a stepson of her father.

"He is like family," she said. "I just think he has some problems. It's a loss for him, too."

In a jailhouse interview with The Bee in July, Watts said he wanted "to send my deepest sympathies to the victims." But he said he didn't believe he should have been charged with manslaughter for what was an accident.

In a letter to the newspaper, Watts wrote: "All I can recall about the accident is driving one minute, and the next thing I remember is sitting on the side (of the road)."

In the interview, he said: "I can't help but ask God why this is all happening to me. I don't feel I deserve this. I have three baby girls (ages 7, 5 and 2) who want me home. They don't understand either."

At the time of the accident, Watts was on parole for a 2007 conviction in San Joaquin County for possession of a firearm by an ex-felon.

He had a record from 1998 for possession of marijuana for sale and possession of a destructive device.

While the judge said Watts had a long record of criminal behavior, survivors of the victims didn't care about his past.

"We do not know you. We still do not want to know you," Rick Saelee, whose parents, Menay Chio Saelee and Eevang Saelee, died in the crash, wrote in a statement read in court. "We only know that you killed our parents … You have no idea of the pain and suffering you caused in our family."

Call The Bee's Peter Hecht, (916) 321-5539.