A man has given up two decades of his freedom for deciding to fire into a crowd of people on Independence Day 2020 and taking the life of a Dorchester woman.

“This defendant made the reprehensible — and ultimately deadly — decision to indulge his rage by firing into a group of people who were gathered to enjoy fireworks in honor of Independence Day,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement. “That decision cost Felicity Coleman her life and handed her family and friends unending sorrow and grief.”

A jury convicted Kristian Maraj, 26, of Dorchester, on Feb. 9 of both manslaughter and illegal firearm possession. This week, Judge Anthony Campo sentenced Maraj to 17 to 20 years in state prison on the manslaughter charge and a concurrent four-year sentence on the firearms charge.

Prosecutors say that Maraj was in a crowd of people who were celebrating Fourth of July 2020 in the early hours of the next morning by lighting fireworks from the intersection of Stonehurst Street and Norton Street in Dorchester.

At some point, prosecutors wrote in their statement of the case, Maraj and another, unknown man got into some kind of argument. Maraj then brought out a pistol, which the other man knocked out of his hands and to the ground. An unidentified friend of Maraj’s picked up the gun and ran toward Maraj’s Hamilton Street house as the fight continued on the street.

When Maraj’s father stepped between the two men, someone stabbed him and father and son ran off, with Maraj purportedly yelling, “They stabbed my father!”

Maraj came back, in a rage, with his gun and fired directly into the crowd, striking and killing 34-year-old Felicity Coleman.

Coleman’s cousin read a lengthy statement before sentencing and promised to come to “every parole hearing to remind all how this man took an innocent life with no remorse and how he is a danger to society and has already proven so.”

“No amount of justice can bring her back or ease the pain of her loss, but it is my fervent hope that the severity of this crime is met with appropriate consequence,” the cousin said, later adding “Although my cousin was not her killer’s direct target, he did have a target in mind. Please remember that this man made his decision to kill prior to doing so.”

“May Felicity’s memory be a beacon of light in the darkness, guiding us through our grief and inspiring us to cherish each moment we are given. Though she may no longer walk among us, her spirit will forever live on in our hearts,” her cousin continued.