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ST. LOUIS — A judge on Thursday sentenced a woman to 13 years for manslaughter after she tracked her stolen car to a gas station, where two men then died in a shootout.

The sentencing came after a jury in March convicted Demesha Coleman of first-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the shooting death of Darius Jackson, 19, who was in her stolen car.

Circuit Judge Madeline Connolly on Thursday said the jury spent hours deliberating their verdict and sentencing recommendation, which was why she stuck with what the jury recommended: nine years for the manslaughter charge and four years for armed criminal action.

“I’m not going to take that away from them,” Connolly said.

By law, Connolly could have sentenced Coleman to less time but not more.

The jury acquitted Coleman in the shooting death of Joseph Farrar, 49, an innocent bystander at the gas station. It also found her not guilty on six counts that included first-degree murder, first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

Coleman’s defense attorney, Isaac Dodd, argued on Thursday that several recent first-degree manslaughter convictions resulted in lesser sentences for defendants who had a criminal record. Coleman has no criminal history.

“While we respect the jury’s verdict in this case, we believe the recommendation was after a long and emotional week,” he said in court.

After the sentencing, Dodd said Coleman was in good spirts.

“At least we got a resolution that gets her a lot of life left to live,” he said.

The case’s special prosecutor, Terrence O’Toole Jr., told the Post-Dispatch he was glad the judge stuck with the jury’s recommendation.

“This is what happens when people take the law into their own hands,” he said.

The shooting happened the night of Dec. 21, 2022, after Coleman’s grey Hyundai Tucson was stolen from her driveway.

Coleman’s car was one of 1,621 stolen Kias and Hyundais that year in ӣ����Ƶ County during the peak of astronomically high theft rates of those cars. A viral TikTok video showed how to break into and drive off in many models of the South Korean-made vehicles, using just a screwdriver and a USB charging cable.

Coleman called police but when officers didn’t respond fast enough, she decided to follow the car, which had a GPS tracker. Coleman and her 19-year-old son caught up to the car at the Speedie Gas station — now VP Racing Fuels — near North Broadway Street and Riverview Boulevard in the city’s Baden neighborhood.

She and a third man ran up to both sides of the stolen car, which had been parked by the store’s front door, with guns drawn and pointed.

“Get out of my car!” Coleman yelled, she testified in court in March.

A split second later, gunfire and chaos erupted.

Farrar and Jackson both died at the scene. Corion Murphy, 16, was in the stolen car when the gunfire erupted. He was shot in the head but survived.

Coleman and her accomplices left the scene, but she came back alone shortly after and waited for police. She has been in custody since.

Coleman’s son was listed as a defendant with his mom in a grand jury indictment filed in August, but he does not appear to be charged separately in court filings. Police still haven’t found him and during the trial Coleman said she did not know where he was.

The third man who helped Coleman has never been identified beyond the nickname “JJ.”