SEATTLE -- A local rabbi found guilty of hitting and killing a City Council aide at a West Seattle crosswalk was sentenced on Thursday.

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz received a two-year deferred sentence and 500 community service hours for the crash that killed Matthew "Tatsuo" Nakata. His license was revoked for two years and he was also charged a $500 fine. Schwartz received no jail time.

Schwartz was charged under a two-year-old city law, which says a driver can be found guilty of assault if he commits a traffic infraction and that infraction results in the death of a pedestrian. The charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Prior to the sentencing on Thursday, Nakata's family members tearfully asked the judge to sentence Schwartz to no less than six months in jail and to impose the full fiscal penalty.

"Since November of 2006, My life has been destroyed," said mother Ninnette Nakata. "My son was killed out of neglect"

"The tainted driving history of the defendant illustrates consistent lack of concern for pedestrians and the rules of the road," said sister Bernadette Nakata in court, reading from her brother Joshua's statement. "The defendant's ability to drive safely seems questionable, at best."

The rabbi, whose driving record shows eight moving violations including one in which he hit a bicyclist while driving on the wrong side of the road, was taking his daughter to school in November of 2006 when he got into the wreck. Prosecutors say Schwartz was also talking on his cell phone.

Nakata, 29, was trying to cross the street on West Seattle's Admiral Way . He was allegedly in the crosswalk when he was struck and killed by a car driven by Schwartz.

Nakata suffered a severe head injury and broken bones. He later died at Harborview Medical Center.

While prosecutors tried to show Schwartz was driving in an inattentive and negligent way -- chatting on the cell phone in a big station wagon cluttered with distractions -- the defense noted Nakata was dressed in dark clothes and might have been listening to an iPod.

The defense contended that because of the curve of the road, the crosswalk is hard to see.

Nakata, who lived close to the intersection where the accident happened, was apparently walking to a bus stop to go to work at City Hall.

Schwartz, 37, took the witness stand last month to describe the morning of the accident.

Speaking in a hushed voice, sometimes crying and unable to finish his sentence, the rabbi who works at the West Seattle Torah Learning Center, said he was driving his daughter to school that morning, just like any other day.

Schwartz was driving a 1991 Oldsmobile station wagon. The accident happened about 7:40 a.m.

Schwartz said they were at the intersection of 47th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Admiral Way not far from their house when he suddenly "heard a big boom" as if something hit his car, and he saw that the windshield was cracked.

"I had no idea what it was. I thought maybe something fell on my car," he said. "I didn't know what happened."

Schwartz said he stopped the car, jumped out, saw Nakata bleeding on the ground, and shouted to other drivers to see if he could get some help for the man. Then he ran back to his car, found his cell phone, which he had dropped on the floor, and called 911.

Schwartz said his memory of the moments before the accident is a blur, and he can't remember for sure if he was talking on the phone at the time of the accident or not.

In a statement to the police, Schwartz's daughter, who was in the backseat at the time of the collision, said they were running late, and her dad was talking on his cell phone.

Cell phone records presented to the jury show there were two calls dialed and one incoming call during the three or four minutes before the accident.

Schwartz was driving approximately the 30-mph speed limit, according to witnesses.

Schwartz' driving record shows he was on the wrong side of the road and hit Lisa Govan, who was riding her bike to work in May 2005.

"I just don't think he should be on the road and I don't know what can be done about it," Govan said.