Sitting in the front row, Ellis’ mother, grandmother and other family members sobbed and glanced frequently at Lombardi, 27, as county Superior Court Judge Stephen Kroyer sentenced him for his role in Ellis’ death. The girl died in June 2005, in a fire in an RV parked at Lombardi’s home on Dry Creek Road.

Last October, Lombardi pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, lewd acts upon a child under 14, and two counts of furnishing methamphetamine to a minor

At Wednesday’s sentencing, Ellis’ family, many wearing T-shirts and buttons with her picture, glared at Lombardi as he was escorted into court by the bailiff.

A handful of Lombardi’s family members also sat in the audience.

The soft sounds of crying could be heard as Ellis’ grandmother, Joyce VanBooven, read a poem she had composed in memory of her granddaughter.

Ellis’ mother, Mara Hale, said, “I want (Lombardi) to tell me how he could let such a beautiful little girl burn to death. I will never be the same. I lost my best friend.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. But it’s not like you think. I’m not a murderer. That’s not me,” Lombardi said. His words met with harsh glares from the victim’s family.

After the hearing, VanBooven said, “His punishment just doesn’t seem like enough. His apology meant nothing. It was all about him. He has not a single ounce of remorse. He should have to die the same way my granddaughter did — burn to death.”

Lombardi’s mother, Karen Kramer said after the hearing that Ellis’ death “was just a terrible accident. "Joben is innocent. And that’s the God’s honest truth.”

Ellis ran away from her Vallejo home to Napa in June 2005 and was hired by an agency to sell subscriptions to the Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper. About four days before she died, she met Lombardi, his brother Kyle and one of their friends in front of a Sierra Avenue 7-Eleven store in Napa, where Ellis was selling newspapers.

She left in the car with the trio, and spent the next few days living in a motor home parked near the Lombardi residence in the 2200 block of Dry Creek Road. The RV was parked on the property where Joben Lombardi lived with his grandmother.

During the preliminary hearing in the case, witnesses testified that Ellis had taken an extreme amount of meth one to two hours before her death, most likely rendering her unconscious before she died in the fire.

John DeHaan, a forensic fire expert, testified when Ellis’ body was recovered she had been standing upright in the shower stall in the RV. He said she was overcome by the intense heat and smoke from the fire.

Lombardi told sheriff’s detectives he was with Ellis the night of the fire, but left her asleep on a blanket in the RV with a candle burning. He said he went to the main house and went to bed.

Fire investigators found no remains of a melted candle or a blanket in the main compartment of the motor home.

Hale has filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against several people, including Lombardi, his grandmother Rosalie Lombardi and Ellis’ father, Scott Brian Ellis.