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A troubled, teenage meth addict was sentenced to 37 years in prison for the 2005 carjacking death of an Albuquerque man who family members say could have helped the boy overcome his dark and damaged life.

Brian Lawson, now 20, also received something Friday he likely didn't expect: forgiveness and a Bible from his victim's family.

"Jesus offers you forgiveness just as I must offer it, too," a sorrowful Linda Padilla, the widow of murder victim Reynaldo "Rayne" Padilla, told Lawson at his sentencing before state District Judge Mark Macaron in Albuquerque.

Lawson, who had earlier sniffed away tears as he apologized to the family, was sentenced to 37 years in prison - the maximum allowed under an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, kidnapping and tampering with evidence.

The victim's family didn't favor the plea deal, and hired former Bernalillo County District Attorney Jeff Romero to represent them in a legal tussle with current District Attorney Kari Brandenburg.

The family believed Lawson should plead guilty to first-degree felony murder, which could have netted him 67 years in prison.

Romero said a review of Albuquerque police records supported the higher charge, but added that the District Attorney's Office had refused to provide the family with documents, including a statement made by Lawson after the Oct. 24, 2005, shooting.

"He (Padilla) was shot in the back," Romero said. "The victim was fleeing at the time."

Romero said prosecutors also made a strategic mistake by not including three additional felony cases in the plea decision.

Those cases involved other auto theft and drug-related offenses that occurred before the murder.

Lawson has already pleaded guilty in those cases and is serving a single three-year sentence, which will now run concurrently with the murder sentence.

Prosecutor Theresa Whatley, who handled the murder case, said the bullet angle made it unclear as to whether the shot was deliberate or accidental.

She called the plea deal a "good and fair offer" that had been approved by Brandenburg.

Macaron accepted the plea Friday, saying he was "unable to conclude that the plea is contrary to the interest of justice."

Afterward, Padilla's son-in-law Ryan Ellsworth said the family accepted the outcome.

"We're at peace," said Ellsworth, who earlier had presented Lawson with the paperback Bible on behalf of the family. "It's not justice. The law says he deserves a lot more, but we're at peace."

Padilla, 48, was hours away from leaving for an England vacation with his family when he drove that morning to Milly's Restaurant at 2100 Candelaria Road Northeast.

Lawson, who had sunk into drugs and crime after a loveless childhood with a neglectful mother and drug-addicted father, is accused of pulling a gun on Padilla while he was still in his truck, forcing Padilla to slide over and give him the keys before shooting Padilla as he attempted to flee.

Family members said Padilla, the owner of Integrity Mechanical, had devoted his life to his family and to his spiritual beliefs and would have likely offered to help Lawson.

"He would have been the best friend you ever had," Ellsworth told Lawson.

Padilla, family members said, often hired ex-convicts to help them get back on their feet. He volunteered weekly at soup kitchens and professed his faith to anyone who would listen.

"His goal in life was to call people to the Lord," older brother Victor Padilla said.

For now, the Bible given by the Padilla family is in the hands of Lawson's grandfather. Corrections officers said Lawson could not take it with him while he returns to Lea County Detention Center in Hobbs.