Darrell Brooks, 22, could have faced the death penalty, but reached a deal with prosecutors that sent him to prison for life without parole.
Relatives of the victims wept at the sentencing as they described the loss of Angela and Carnell Dawson and their five children to U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis.
Novella Solomon, Carnell Dawson's sister who lives in Oklahoma, spoke of sleepless nights and how she never had the chance to meet her sister-in-law or her nieces and nephews.
She said visiting their graves was like saying ``hello and goodbye'' all at once. ``My first meeting with them was at their funeral,'' she said.
``What a colossal waste,'' U.S. Attorney Thomas DiBiagio said. ``Seven people are murdered by this drug punk.''
The sentence came nearly a year after Brooks allegedly began targeting the home of the Dawsons and their five children, ages 9, 10, 12 and 14.
The parents were known around their neighborhood as vocal opponents of drug dealing; Carnell Dawson had even chased drug dealers off his front stoop.
Brooks, who has a long criminal history that includes robbery, assault and drug charges, began to strike back in early October, hurling two Molotov cocktails into their three-story rowhouse, authorities said. They escaped the first attack.
Prosecutor Jason Weinstein said Brooks told a witness he firebombed the home because Angela Dawson was ``snitching on people'' who sold drugs on her street. Weinstein said a witness described Brooks as ``smiling and laughing'' as he recounted the first attack.
Then on Oct. 16, Brooks tried again, kicking the family's door down, spilling gasoline inside and setting the deadly fire. The attack underscored the severity of Baltimore's notoriously violent drug crime, prompting state and local officials to take a harder look at the problem.
Brooks cried and begged the family for forgiveness, saying when he learned he could face the death penalty he felt that execution was the only way he could pay for his actions.
``I thought I deserved nothing but death,'' Brooks said.
DiBiagio said prosecutors believed Brooks' mental capacity ``was so impaired'' that there was a chance he would be precluded from the death penalty. Prosecutors accepted the life sentence after consulting with the family and deciding to bring closure to the case, noting Brooks will never be eligible for parole.
``He's going to die in jail,'' DiBiagio said. ``He's got another 50 to 60 years to think about what he did every day he sits in that cell.''
