13-year-old Nicole Lalime was just getting off the school bus, excited about Christmas break, when a drunk John Jacob Winne ran three stop signs, hit the school bus and ran over Nicole in December 2008.

The young girl had survived surgery, the previous year, for scoliosis and had a newer, happier, perspective about life.

Nicole was an artist and signed it with the name, Lillyh Rainbow.

“She stood up for the underdog,” Valoree Lalime said while crying during a victim impact statement in court.“She always said, "Why be sad when you can choose to be happy.'”

Among the people packed in the Houston courthouse, to hear Winne, 32, plead guilty to Intoxication Manslaughter, along with Failure to Stop and Render Aid, was State Senator Dan Patrick.

A new law named “the Nicole Lalime Law” giving the police the right to take blood from suspected Texas DWI drivers on a wider basis than before.

The Judge, Joan Campbell, sentenced Winne to forty years on the two counts and he will not be eligible for parole for at least fifteen years.