SAN JOSE >> A man convicted of manslaughter for a blindside attack that led to the death of an elderly stranger — in a chance encounter that escalated after the victim shined a flashlight at him — was sentenced to a 12-year prison term Thursday on the third anniversary of the assault.

Superior Court Judge Arthur Bocanegra remanded Amiel Joey Mirador, 35, to the Santa Clara County Main Jail, where he has been held since the day after the March 27, 2022 attack on 81-year-old Allen Dournaee on a residential street in South San Jose. Dournaee died 12 days later.

Bocanegra called Dournaee’s killing a “very unfortunate and tragic event” and said “the court’s decision is not based on mercy, it’s based on case law.”

Mirador’s actual prison time will be shortened by credit for the three years he has already spent in jail. The sentence is technically a 6-year prison term doubled because of a prior strike for a 2019 conviction for arson and making criminal threats over a disputed car transaction.

Dournaee’s surviving relatives and friends, about two-dozen of whom were in court, were as demoralized by the sentence as they were by a jury’s decision in December to forgo a murder conviction and find Mirador guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

“A man was beaten and died, and this is not justice,” Dournaee’s daughter, Monica Scott, said after the Thursday court hearing. “This is the furthest thing from justice.”

In her victim-impact statement, Scott honored her late father as an embodiment of the American dream, having immigrated to the United States from Iran and built a life in San Jose that had evolved from being a father of two to a grandfather of four boys. She said the killing inflicted “generational trauma,” as she expects to relive the tragedy when she has to explain the circumstances to her children when they are older.

“I will never be the same person,” Scott said in court Thursday. “This has impacted every single aspect of my life.”

Dournaee’s widow, also named Monica, quoted Scottish philosopher Adam Smith in telling the court, “Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.” Blake Dournaee, her and the victim’s son, said “the choices the defendant made showed me the face of pure evil.”

Mirador sought to apologize to the family in his own court statement, which he gave in Tagalog to the court but was later read in English by his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Bichara Endrawos.

“I never meant to kill Mr. Dournaee. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone’s family,” the statement read. “I don’t expect forgiveness. … I hope you can heal as a family and move forward.”

Both during and after the sentencing, Endrawos reiterated his position that the death was a freak accident, clouded by Mirador’s intoxication and fear from Dournaee shining a flashlight at him while out on a night walk. In court, Endrawos revealed to Bocanegra that Mirador had already offered, before the trial, to plead to voluntary manslaughter and a 12-year prison term, the same outcome produced by jurors and the judge.

“Mr. Mirador wanted to accept responsibility. … That offer was rejected,” Endrawos told this news organization. “Mr. Mirador sincerely expressed his remorse. This was a tragedy, and he never intended to kill Mr. Dournaee.”

Deputy District Attorney Hannah Bertrando argued at trial that the viciousness of the attack, highlighted by surveillance video showing Mirador punch a retreating Dournaee in the back of the head and land another “coup de grâce” punch after Dournaee had fallen face-first into a sidewalk, warranted a murder finding. The voluntary manslaughter verdict was a middle ground of sorts between that and the defense’s recommendation of an involuntary manslaughter conviction.

“While the People asked for the maximum sentence, we respect the judge’s decision,” Bertrando said in a statement after the sentencing. “No matter the sentence we hope that the focus remains on victim Allen Dournaee, the person who tragically and unjustly lost his life at the hands of the defendant three years ago today.”

The attack occurred March 27, 2022 near Avenida Grande and Via Romera, in a neighborhood nestled between Bernal Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard. Dournaee was on a night walk around 8 p.m. and encountered an addled Mirador on the opposite side of the street. When Dournaee shined a flashlight at him, the fatal assault unfolded. Mirador called 911 and later claimed that he found Dournaee on the ground after tripping on him, a story that video footage quickly debunked.

At trial, Mirador and his brothers testified that about an hour before the attack, Mirador had arrived at a family home drunk and got into a fight with one brother, prompting a police call but no arrests. Mirador then got into fight with another brother who was driving him home, and he punch and broke the car’s windshield before getting out and walking away, on a path toward Dournaee.

Earlier this month, Dournaee’s mother and daughter secured a $2.5 million civil judgment — which includes $1 million in punitive damages — against Mirador after they sued him for wrongful death, according to county court records. Payment of that judgment will be in addition to restitution ordered by Bocanegra on Thursday.