DENVER -- Willie D. Clark was sentenced Friday to life in prison plus 1,152 years for killing Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams in a drive-by shooting on New Year's Day 2007.

See Pictures Of Evidence Presented At Trial

For his conviction on premeditated first-degree murder, Justice Christina Habas said, "I sentence you, Mr. Clark, to life in prison without parole."

As the judge added on 72 years for each of the 16 counts of attempted murder for the 16 passengers in the stretch-limousine that night, Clark's face remained expressionless as he whispered to defense attorney Abraham Hutt.

Darrent Williams' mother, Rosalind, told Clark she revamped her statement at the last minute "because of Mr. Clark's wishes" that he not sit through the wrath of the victim's loved ones.

"I lost my son and I can't get him back," the mother said. "He'll never come back to us."

"But Mr. Clark still has life," she said. "I think as long as you have life there's opportunity for you to change, for you to help someone."

"I sat in this court for almost three weeks (during the trial) and I watched Mr. Clark every day," Rosalind Williams said.

She also watched Clark's mother, sister and other relatives.

"I know they love him. They love him as much as we loved 'D,'" she said, using her son's nickname. "They still have to him to hold, to call, to write."

"This is such a senseless crime," the mother said. "I know he's still saying he's innocent. But for each and every individual that was in the (SUV) you guys are all guilty. Admit that. Show some remorse. Make your mom, make your dad proud."

"Violence is so common in our community," the mother said, especially in the African American community.

"Violence is so common ...We see it on the news and you just go onto the next story. It keeps going on and on and on."

"When is is going to stop?" Rosalind Williams asked.

"What's a drive-by?" she asked. "Drive-by's are for cowards. What happened to the good old days when you have a fist fight and you live to see another day?"

Williams' Children Learn The Reality Of Daddy's Death

Tierria Leonard, the mother of Darrent Williams' young son and daughter, choked back tears as she described how Clark devastated their lives.

Leonard said she met the future NFL player when she was 15 years old.

"I just knew one day we would be happily married, raising our children together," she said. "Now, me and my children have been robbed of the life that we all dreamed of."

"Three years have passed and I still haven't been able to explain to my children why their father was murder," the mother said.

During the two-week murder trial, prosecutors said Clark, a gang member, committed the drive-by shooting because he was envious of the attention that Williams and other Broncos teammates were receiving at the Safari nightclub that New Year's Eve.

"All I can conclude is he was killed simply because of the jealousy and selfishness of Willie Clark," Leonard said.

As the weeping mother spoke, Clark watched blank-faced, his chin propped on his hand.

Leonard explained that the couple's son was only 7 when his father was slain.

"He did not completely understand that death was so final," she said.

"After 'D' was buried, he asked me if his dad had his cell phone in the casket," Leonard recalled. "He knew that if his dad had his phone and he called him, (his father) would answer."

"As I explained to him that he would never be able to speak to (his father) again, he cried uncontrollably," Leonard said.

"His sadness has now turned to anger," she said. "Now at age 10, he completely understands what death is and realizes his father will never see him play a game of football or run track."

"He will never have another father-son outing. He will never be able to call his father for advice," she said.

"Why? Because of Willie Clark," Leonard said.

She explained how their daughter, a track star since age four, was traumatized by her father's murder.

"After 'D' was shot, she was terrified to run (at track meets), because she was so afraid of the starter gun," Leonard said. "She thought she could be shot just like her father was."

"No matter what I tried, she couldn't do it. She would just run off the track," the mother said.

Slowly, the young family is healing.

"I am happy to say that we are all working together to get things back as normal as possible," said Leonard. "I am back at work and dealing with my emotions better with each passing day."

"My son now understands that his dad is watching him from heaven and he strives to make him proud," the mother said.

"This year he competed in a Pee-Wee Football League Super Bowl Championship and hopes to one day compete in the NFL like his father," she said.

"My daughter is now back on the track," Leonard said.

"She has overcome her fear by taking her daddy with her in her heart to the starting line at every track meet," the mother said. "This past year, she stood right next to the starter gun at the state track meet, and -- along the help of her relay team – (she) won the state track meet and broke the national record."

Clark's guilty verdict has given the family a sense of relief, Leonard said.

"We hope Willie Clark finally has to pay for his selfish decision," she said. "He had has taken so much from us… It's time to take something from him.

"Take away his freedom. Take away his ability to take someone else's life.

"I hope he never sees the light of day again," Leonard concluded.

Judge Asks: When Will People Say 'No More' Gang Violence?

Judge Habas, who has presided over many gang-slaying trials like the one that claimed Williams' young life, said they are "all too common," not just in Denver, but across the United States and around the world.

"Many fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, nieces and nephews have been taken," she said, "and so many more of them have been affected in what has become unbelievably repetitious, senseless violence over little more than sometimes even a perceived insult."

"And each time we in the criminal justice system see these situations, we hope that somehow people in the community will say no more, never again," the judge said. "But they keep coming and coming and coming."

"What I'm hoping for the victims and anyone who survived this is that they will not allow their lives to be governed by anger and hatred," the judge said. "I know that's very, very difficult to do, but to create something meaningful out of this tragedy."

Habas said that's why she asked Williams stepfather, Julian Watkins, to name the schools in Williams' hometown, Fort Worth, Texas, that have been adopted by the Darrent Williams Foundation.

"I hope those children in Fort Worth at Morningside Elementary and Beverly Davis Elementary grow up without the specter of violence in their lives. And I'm hoping that children in Denver also will have that," she said.

Then Habas addressed Clark, who made no public statement during the hearing. His defense attorneys, however, said he continues to maintain his innocence and an appeal is likely.

"Mr. Clark, I will simply say from where I sit, even though you know, baring a retrial of this issue, you're spending your life in prison, you too can be a good person, and make a change and make a difference if that's what you choose to do," the judge said.

Clark Didn't Want To Be At His Own Sentencing

Earlier in the day, Clark requested that he not be required to sit through the sentencing, but Judge Habas denied the request.

Defense attorney Abraham Hutt had argued that it would dishonor the court proceeding to force the defendant to face Williams' family and friends as they emotionally address the court about his crime and its impact on their lives.

"The only purpose of this is the theater of venting or the public expression of other folks' feelings," Hutt said. "Your honor, what we're doing here is forcing Mr. Clark to be on television."

He stressed that Clark "from the beginning, maintained his innocence and maintains his innocence."

Despite that, Hutt said, Clark knows "that he's about to be sentenced to life without parole plus 1,100 … years for something that he didn’t do."

The judge respectfully disagreed that requiring Clark's presence would bring dishonor to the proceedings.

"There may be people in this room who view this as a spectacle or a circus. I'm not one of them," Habas said."Given the enormity of this crime … I am finding in favor of the idea that the victims' rights include the right to be able to make statements and address the court in the presence of the defendant."

Prosecutor Tim Twining had opposed the request.

"Quite frankly, I think he's denying the victims their opportunity to have their day in court," Twining said.

Defense attorney Darren Cantor told judge just before lunch that Clark had signed a request two days ago that he "explicitly waives his right to be present for sentencing." The prosecutor noted that he just saw the request Friday.

"Given that this is an academic exercise in terms of the number of years that the court has to impose … and given Mr. Clark's constitutional right to be present at any critical stage in the proceeding, he explicitly waives his right to be present for sentencing," Cantor said.

Clark's Sentence Magnified To 1,152 Years In Prison

Earlier, Habas ruled that Clark is a habitual criminal, magnifying a mandatory life imprisonment sentence for the first-degree murder conviction to 1,152 years in prison.

During the nearly two-hour mini-trial, Clark sat calmly in a tan shirt and khaki slacks as Twining and Cantor argued whether he should be adjudicated as a habitual offender for having three felony convictions.

Given the life sentence, Habas asked why Twining was proceeding with the habitual criminal trial.

Twining replied that in the event that part or all of Clark's murder conviction is overturned on appeal, the district attorney might choose to retry him.

"It's viewed as prosecutorial vindictiveness," Twining said, if prosecutors seek a habitual criminal adjudication on a retrial after losing on appeal.

Essentially, the habitual criminal ruling gave prosecutors insurance that they could keep Clark in prison for life, even if his life-sentence for murder is overturned on appeal.

It allowed prosecutors to multiply by three times the 24-year penalty for each of the 16 attempted murder counts for which Clark has been convicted. The total: 1,152 years on top of the life sentence.

Twining also noted that the Colorado legislature "is doing some of their mischievous deeds with the habitual criminal statute" and the law could change if prosecutors delay having him adjudicated a chronic offender.

The trial involved relatively dry testimony by retired Denver police fingerprint technician Bill Brown, who took Clark's fingerprints last May and matched them with prints taken during Clark's two prior felony convictions. One was a 2006 felony theft conviction in Denver, the other was a 2004 aggravated assault conviction in Texas.

The third conviction is for killing Williams.

Another police fingerprint specialist did a double-blind verification of Brown's fingerprint matching showing that Clark was convicted of the prior felonies.

Defense attorney Cantor tried to challenge the validity of the fingerprint matching, repeatedly getting Brown to confirm that he couldn't vouch for the accuracy of the official who took the fingerprints during Clark's earlier convictions.

"You have no idea of its accuracy?" Cantor asked, referring to fingerprints done by someone else after an earlier conviction.

"Correct," Brown said. But he stressed that each fingerprint in the 10-finger print card taken for the prior conviction matched exactly the same position of the 10 finger prints he took from Clark.

But Habas ultimately ruled that there was sufficient proof of the authenticity of Clark's prior convictions.

Background In Case

A jury convicted Clark of first-degree murder in Williams' death on New Year's Day 2007, after both men had left the same night club.

Clark also was convicted of attempted murder and assault charges in the attack that injured two others.

During the trial, prosecutors had argued that Clark fired the fatal shots from an SUV that pulled up beside a rented limo carrying Williams and some friends on New Year's Day 2007.

Prosecutors said the drive-by shooting was revenge by Clark who felt "disrespected" after he and fellow gang members clashed with some Broncos players, including Brandon Marshall, and their friends at Club Safari on Broadway.

They portrayed Clark, nicknamed "Little Let Loose," as a hot-head who resented that the football stars were getting all the attention on his turf, including free nightclub entrance and VIP booths, while Clark had to wait in line in the cold.

Prosecutors said they were forced to rely on a rogue’s gallery of at least five witnesses who were granted reduced sentences on drug-trafficking convictions or early release from prison in exchange for testifying against Clark.

“Crimes conceived in hell, seldom have angels for witnesses," Levin said.

Some witnesses were also placed in the federal witness protection program, which paid -- or will pay -- to relocate them and their family members and provide them with new identities

The alleged gang-slaying trial was "saturated with witness intimidation" and fear, as Judge Habas stressed twice.

Several witnesses told police they feared their families could be killed if they testified against Clark, a suspected member of an east Denver gang. In an unrelated case, Clark and two other gang members face trial later this year for the 2006 murder of a woman. She was a witness in another murder trial and killed days before she was to testify that a gang member tried to kill her outside a nightclub a year earlier.