MIAMI (WSVN) - A driver who was convicted for causing a deadly crash that killed a mother and two daughters in North Bay Village in 2022 learned his fate on Friday.
Twenty-seven-year-old Julius Bernstein appeared in court to learn how long he would remain behind bars for his role in a deadly crash in North Bay Village.
The judge sentenced Bernstein to 45 years in prison, with 10 years of probation.
“His sentence will be 45 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation,” said Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Zachary N. James.
According to authorities, Bernstein was traveling at speeds near 100 miles per hour when he slammed into another car carrying a mother and her two daughters, ages 12 and 15, near the 1300 block of the John F. Kennedy Causeway on June 27, 2022. All three women were killed in the crash.
Bernstein then fled the scene and ultimately left the state of Florida until authorities found him in North Carolina in 2023. He was later extradited to South Florida to face charges of vehicular homicide.
During his sentencing on Friday afternoon, emotions were high inside the courtroom as the judge delivered Bernstein’s fate.
Prosecutors called several loved ones of those three victims, Cynthia Orsa Tellez and her daughters Maria and Sofia, to the stand, including Samir Saidi, Cynthia’s husband and the father of Maria and Sofia, who had mixed feelings on his family’s killer finally being brought to justice.
“If somebody with the same circumstances caused the death of my family, if it was an elderly lady that she’d not see or somebody did not act in that way, it was just an accident, I would sit here, and I would forgive him,” said Saidi. “I cannot have forgiveness for this individual, I can’t.”
While on the stand, Saidi poured his heart out of the pain and agony of missing his family.
“They were both wonderful, wonderful children. They were beautiful souls, angels,” said Saidi.
Saidi described the immense guilt he’s carried that he couldn’t do anything to prevent their deaths.
“Just replaying feeling guilty I could not protect my family. I wasn’t there for them. Thinking how much pain they felt,” said Saidi.
Also testifying was retired traffic homicide detective Wanda Milian, who worked as the lead detective on the investigation and fought back tears as she recalled her reaction when she saw the crash, which turned out to be the last case she ever worked.
“I immediately said out loud: ‘Please tell me this is not a kid,'” said Milian. “The severity of the emotional impact of this scene were unlike anything I have previously encountered.”
Saidi told the court that the years that have passed since the horrific crash ripped his family from him have left him a shell of who he once was.
“I would never wish this on any father or mother… to go through what I have been through, it breaks a person like nothing,” said Saidi. “I think about my family every single day. I don’t recall that there was one single day that I have not cried for my loss.”
7News spoke with the attorneys for the victims’ family, who said they feel that justice has been served, but no punishment can fill the void left by their deaths.
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