SAN RAFAEL — An El Cerrito man was sentenced to 21 years in state prison Wednesday for fatally shooting a San Leandro man riding in a Hell's Angels convoy traveling through Marin County last year.

Joseph Andrew Farnsworth, 21, did not speak during the sentencing hearing, which filled a courtroom with family members and supporters of the 25-year-old victim, William Maclean.

Maclean was shot during a road rage incident in which a burrito was thrown at the vehicle carrying Farnsworth.

"I do not understand such rage and anger that would cause the taking of a life," said Maclean's grandmother, who declined to give her name. "I don't understand."

Farnsworth's sentence was determined in advance under a plea bargain with the district attorney's office. Farnsworth took the deal in August, admitting to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempted voluntary manslaughter, with penalty enhancements for the use of a gun.

The plea arrangement precluded Judge Kelly Simmons from adding more prison time, despite pleas from family members to do so.

"I appreciate that you have suffered a great loss that will always be in your heart," Simmons told the gallery. "Sadly, I can't fix that."

Farnsworth received nearly 600 days of credit against his prison sentence for time already served since his arrest, plus good conduct.

As with previous hearings, the courtroom and outer hallway were lined with sheriff's deputies and investigators

Many of Maclean's supporters wore Hell's Angels jackets from various chapters in California or T-shirts with his picture. Maclean, described as a Laney College student with an interest in accounting and real estate, was not a member of the motorcycle organization, but he had family and social ties to the group.

"Twenty-one years for killing someone?" Karen Dewaal, of Oakland, a close friend of Maclean's, said after the hearing. "And this is a known gangbanger shooting from a moving vehicle, and he was hecka loaded when he did it. It was just crazy. He didn't have any remorse at all."

The shooting occurred May 24, 2008, on northbound Highway 101 in Mill Valley, when a red Dodge Durango and a white pickup were jockeying during a road rage dispute.

Farnsworth, a passenger in the Durango, fired a gun at the pickup, killing Maclean in the front passenger's seat. Raymond Foakes, Maclean's brother-in-law who was driving the pickup, was not hit by gunfire.

Sheriff's investigators were able to identify the Durango and track down its driver, Jessica Andrea Gordon, a 22-year-old Mill Valley resident. After contacting her, investigators identified the passengers in the Durango as Farnsworth and his juvenile girlfriend.

Farnsworth was charged with murder and Gordon was charged with being an accessory, drug possession and other counts. Farnsworth's girlfriend, a Richmond resident, was not charged.

Gordon was eventually granted immunity in exchange for her cooperation against Farnsworth.

Reach Gary Klien at gklien@marinij.com.