SAN JOSE (KPIX) – A former San Jose City Council candidate and President of the Women’s March Bay Area has been sentenced to six months in jail and two years probation for crashing into her SUV with a pedestrian and killing him on the shot.

“To say we were disappointed is an understatement,” said Bridget Starkey.

READ MORE: Police search for 8-year-old boy who ran away from his San Francisco home

His father, Tim Starkey, was killed days before Christmas Day 2019 when Jennifer Higgins Bradanini crashed into the 66-year-old on Blossom Hill Road in Los Gatos.

Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police said Bradanini was under the influence of prescription drugs used for anxiety, depression and insomnia. She was on her way to a doctor’s appointment from San José when she crossed a bike path and found herself on the shoulder where Tim was standing near his truck. He was getting ready to install Christmas lights for a friend.

Bradanini has made a clear plea of ​​manslaughter at the wheel of a vehicle. But a judge agreed on Tuesday to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor of gross negligence, which comes with a lighter sentence.

“It was a shock, a shock to all of us,” Starkey said. “What she took from us is immeasurable, and the loss of my father will be forever.”

READ MORE: Philip Kreycik’s family remain hopeful in week 2 search for missing jogger

Timothy Lundell, a local lawyer and family friend, said he had known Tim Starkey for almost four decades. He was in the courtroom on Tuesday and heard Bradanini’s statement to the Starkey family.

“She said she didn’t have an explanation for what had happened, that it wasn’t intentional,” Lundell said. “It was a taken away life that has so much promise, love, tenderness, fun. All the things the family would want from a husband and father. Gone in an instant.

“To see the woman who killed my father in person is very shocking,” Starkey said.

The family said they plan to explore other legal options in the future, but so far their focus has been on sentencing day.

Despite the heartache, Starkey said she respects the remorse Bradanini displayed in court today. She said that’s what her father, who taught her to live with integrity, would want her to do.

NO MORE NEWS: UPDATE: I-80 reopens after large platform fire in El Cerrito closed EB lanes for hours

“My dad was just a lover of music and cooking for people,” Starkey said. “I think he would be very proud of my mother, myself and my brother, Joe. For standing up, defending him and defending his character before the judge, before the woman who killed him.