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HILLSBOROUGH (AP) - A former student was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison Tuesday for plowing his sport utility vehicle into a crowd at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in a self-professed bid to avenge Muslim deaths overseas.

Mohammed Taheri-Azar, 25, pleaded guilty earlier this month to nine counts of attempted murder for the March 2006 attack at a popular outdoor gathering spot known as The Pit.

One person had a head injury and several were cut and bruised from jumping out of the SUV's path, but no one stayed in the hospital overnight, Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said.

Victim Karen Harman said in court Tuesday that when she saw a Jeep coming toward her, she assumed it was headed to The Pit to do work.

"But the driver hit the gas, and, I mean, he hit the gas. In the next instant, I was on the ground, clutching my knee in pain," she said.

History professor Michael Allsep, whose wrist and tail bone were broken, said he feared for his life.

"This man not only tried to kill me and my students, he tried to kill the best of our future. He failed only through poor execution," Allsep wrote in a statement read by his mother.

Statements were read aloud from several other victims who weren't in court. Woodall said all shared the sentiment that while their injuries were not lasting, the effects of the incident linger.

Woodall argued aggravating factors, including Taheri-Azar targeting a group of people and using the SUV as a deadly weapon, made a lengthy sentence necessary.

"He couldn't build up the speed for what he intended to do," Woodall said. "It is a harsh sentence, but it is a fair and reasonable sentence."

Asked whether he wanted to speak on his own behalf, Taheri-Azar, dressed in a gray suit and white shirt, declined.

But his sister, Lida Taheri-Azar, testified that her brother's actions were uncharacteristic of the quiet person she'd grown up with. She said she felt outside influences led him to act irrationally.

The original charges were consolidated into two counts of attempted murder for sentencing purposes. Taheri-Azar was sentenced to between 13 and 16½ years in prison on each count.

The guilty plea comes after a tumultuous court process. Taheri-Azar initially tried to represent himself during trial, then tried to fire his lawyer. After an outburst in court in 2007, a judge ordered a mental evaluation.

Authorities said Taheri-Azar was traveling between 10 and 30 mph when he drove onto campus and through the Pit.

Afterward, he waited in his vehicle for police for about 15 minutes and told them he was the man they were looking for. Police found a letter in his apartment that he had written them because he thought he would be killed sometime during the attack.

The letter said he wanted revenge for the deaths of Muslims overseas that he said were caused by the U.S. He has said he rented a Jeep Cherokee because it was better equipped for what he planned to do.

Taheri-Azar is a naturalized citizen from Iran who grew up near Charlotte and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill.