Driver in fiery crash that killed a mom and her 2 girls gets decades in prison

Samir Saidi, the husband of the woman and two girls who were killed in a fiery crash in 2022, detailed how he struggles to sleep at night because thoughts about his family’s final moments run in his mind.

“There is not one single day that I haven’t cried for my loss,” Saidi said on the stand, adding that he wishes he could have done something to save the lives of his wife, Cynthia Orsatelliz, and daughters Sofia, 15, and Maria, 12.

On June 27, 2022, Julius Bernstein, 27, was speeding at nearly 100 mph on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Village when he rammed his Dodge Charger into a car turning left from the eastbound lanes at Harbor Island Drive. After the crash, Bernstein jumped out of his car and ran. He hadn’t had a driver’s license since 2016.

Bernstein sat quietly as he was sentenced on Friday afternoon to 45 years in state prison followed by 10 years of probation by Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Zachary James. In September, a Miami jury found Bernstein guilty of three counts of vehicular homicide as well as other charges linked to the fatal collision. The sentence is 15 years per count of vehicular homicide.

“What a beautiful family. So full of life, so full of promise… torn away by a vehicle that this defendant turned into a bullet,” James said before announcing the sentence.

Bernstein will get credit for the three years that he has served behind bars in Miami-Dade. A month after the wreck, he was taken into custody by federal agents in North Carolina.

READ MORE: Driver accused of killing 3 in Miami Beach area hit-and-run lost his license in 2016

Bernstein was stoic as the family recounted their suffering, wiping their tears. After their impact statements, he stood up and spoke briefly, the rattle of chains echoing in the courtroom.

He apologized.

Bernstein’s attorney, Dustin Tischler, had requested a 25-year sentence, citing a history of mental-health and substance-abuse issues. Prosecutor Laura Adams, however, sought a life sentence under a sentencing enhancement because Bernstein is a “habitual violent felony” offender. At the time of the crash, Bernstein was serving three years of probation for a slew of convictions, including for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and fleeing law enforcement, Florida prison records show.

Bernstein, Adams argued, annihilated a family when he got behind the wheel.

A never-ending grief

Saidi said he met Cynthia in 1995 when they were studying together — and quickly became inseparable.

“She was my rock, my support,” he said, sniffling. “God blessed us with a … very comfortable life.”

The couple were also blessed with two daughters, he said: Sofia, who was passionate about writing and often embarrassed him by saying words he wouldn’t know, and Maria, who loved cooking shows and told him she wanted to become a chef.

“I thought that there would come a day that there is a book that had Sofia’s name on it or a restaurant that Maria would be so proud of being the main chef,” Saidi said.

The girls, Saidi said, were the “most beautiful souls, angels,” and he can’t forgive Bernstein because they, along with their mother, were casualties of Bernstein’s sheer recklessness.

Omar Orsatelliz, Cynthia’s brother, said his sister — who was the oldest daughter of their five siblings — was like a mother to him. She guided, protected and shaped him into who he became.

“As a brother, I grieve for her every day,” Orsatelliz said. “As an uncle to Maria and Sofia, I grieve for the lives that never got to unfold. I’m not the same person I was before that day and neither is our family.”

Orsatelliz said his father — the girls’ grandfather — suffered a stroke around the anniversary of the crash last year and now requires constant care. Orsatelliz said he believes the stroke was brought on by his father’s heartache.

“This tragedy did not end on the day of the crash,” he said. “Its consequences continue to uphold. Family gatherings are quieter. Holidays and birthdays feel incomplete. Ordinary days are filled with reminders of who was missing and what has been taken from us.”

Family attorney Omar Saleh said outside the courtroom: “This is just a small piece of closure to this horrific family tragedy.”

Now-retired Miami-Dade Det. Wanda Milian, who investigated the wreck, said the emotional impact of the scene was “unlike anything I had previously encountered.”

Milian broke down as she testified about how Bernstein launched a barrage of obscenities at her. Bernstein’s erratic behavior, the officer said, was something that she had encountered only two other times in her 17 years as a detective.

“It is said that law enforcement will always remember their first case and their last,” the detective said. “This case, my last, will always remain [with me.]”