A San Jose woman who struck and killed a 79-year-old grandmother last year while driving under the influence of alcohol was sentenced Monday to six years, eight months in prison, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

Leticia Daisy Martinez, 29, pleaded guilty in January to gross vehicular manslaughter and other charges in connection with the hit-and-run death of Diana Pundsack, who was gardening in her South San Jose home when she was struck by an SUV that came crashing across her front yard.

Martinez, who had a blood-alcohol content of at least 0.15 percent, was facing a maximum sentence of just over 12 years in prison, according to the district attorney's office.

At the sentencing, Martinez read a letter she wrote expressing remorse for her actions, according to prosecutor Cody Jones. Martinez's attorney also presented the judge a packet of letters of support from her friends and family.

Pundsack's adult daughter Joyce Young also spoke at the time of sentencing. Reading from a prepared statement, Young talked about the devastating effect her mother's death had on herself and her adult son. Young described her mother as her best friend

Although Young wrote that she holds "no vengeance or anger in my heart for you and I have with God's help forgiven you for the pain you have caused my mother and our family," she asked that Martinez not be given a light sentence.

"Ms. Martinez showed a total

disregard for human life and public safety that day... If you give Ms. Martinez a light sentence today, will she really learn the valuable lessons that she obviously still needs to learn or will she just see this as a slap on the wrist?"

On the morning of May 1, 2011, Pundsack was gardening at her home near Calero and Snell avenues in South San Jose when a 1999 Chevy Suburban jumped the curb and plowed across the front yard. The vehicle slammed into Pundsack and the house, crushing the front corner of the structure and a wall of the front room.

Pundsack, who worked for many years as a lunchroom and campus aide at Sylvia Cassell Elementary School, was pronounced dead after she was rushed to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

The crash was the second of three that Martinez was involved in within minutes, police say.

The first occurred about 9:30 a.m., when the Suburban struck a Honda sedan near Blossom Hill Road and Entrada Cedros, just off Highway 85. The damage was minor, but police say Martinez left the scene. Police say the 26-year-old man who was driving the Honda followed the fleeing SUV.

With the Honda close behind, the woman driving the Suburban turned south on Snell Avenue and then attempted to

make a sudden left turn onto Roading Drive. The Suburban jumped the curb and a low stone wall in front of Pundsack's corner house.

Police say Martinez backed up and sped away. The SUV made several turns before striking a parked car on Bridle Way, off Calero.

Martinez and three passengers abandoned the SUV, according to police, and may have tried to flee on foot, but officers arrived and stopped them.

Some neighbors said that bystanders arrived first, after following the Suburban from Pundsack's house, and helped block the driver and passengers.

Contact Mark Gomez at 408-920-5869. Follow him on Twitter @MarkMgomez