Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one felony count of hit-and-run with injury.
On April 24, 2009, Rivera rear-ended Patrick Shannon, 55, who was riding his bike on West Street in Anaheim.
The impact sent Shannon off his bike and onto the ground.
Rivera sped away and abandoned his car in the 1200 block of W. Katella Avenue. Shannon's hair and blood were found on the shattered windshield and roof of the car.
Shannon was taken to /*University of California, Irvine Medical Center*/, where he died April 30 as a result of injuries to his head.
By then, Rivera had turned himself into his parole agent.
During sentencing Wednesday, Shannon's partner, Karol Nocon, said she sat by Shannon's hospital bed and hoped he would wake up and she would see him again.
"I felt his last heartbeat. I heard his last breath. And I watched as the life went out of his body. I felt like my life was leaving me as well," Nocon said.
