{"id":351616,"date":"2026-07-24T21:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T21:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351616\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T21:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T21:51:07","slug":"woman-sentenced-to-20-years-after-pleading-guilty-to-deadly-2025-wrong-way-dui-crash-on-florida-turnpike-wsvn-7news-miami-news-weather-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351616\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to deadly 2025 wrong-way DUI crash on Florida Turnpike – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – A woman who pled guilty to a killer crash learned her fate on Friday.<\/p>\n

It was an emotional morning at the Broward County courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, where one family said they are destroyed, and the woman accused of causing their pain, said she is haunted by what happened and knows her words can\u2019t change what\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n

Forty-five-year-old Sunshine Perez, pled guilty to a driving under the influence manslaughter charge in connection to the death of 23-year-old old Zeke Urrutia. As she made her plea, Perez was wracked with emotion, sobbing before the court.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, Urrutia, who was a Florida International University graduate and paramedic that also aspired to become a firefighter, was killed after being struck by Perez, who had been driving several miles in the wrong direction along the Turnpike Extension in Miramar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Later, tests showed that she had been driving above the legal alcohol limit<\/a> and also tested positive for drugs.<\/p>\n

Speaking before Urrutia\u2019s family in the court, Perez fought through tears to express her regrets over her actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, all day, I\u2019m reminded of the accident that I caused, the trauma that I caused to his family, his loved ones. I know he was a very intelligent young man, an extremely functioning part of society, and it hurts my existence to no one but my hands, my hands, my hands did this!\u201d said Perez.<\/p>\n

Perez added that she has been living in a prison in her own mind every day since the deadly crash.<\/p>\n

She also sympathized with Urrutia\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine what his mother is going through knowing that her baby is gone,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all because of my actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the judge imposed a sentence, Urrutia\u2019s family shared their agony at the loss of the promising future he had ahead of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was supposed to watch my son build the life he worked so hard earn. Instead, I watched the local news and saw my son\u2019s body in a bag next to his mangled vehicle,\u201d said Tiffany, Urrutia\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

Urrutia\u2019s sister Alexis also shared her grief, reinforcing that the fault for his death laid entirely on Perez\u2019s reckless actions and mourning the future that was robbed from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of one reckless decision, I lost not only my brother but every future memory I was supposed to make with him,\u201d said Alexis Urrutia.<\/p>\n

Urrutia\u2019s father Frank added to that pain, saying despite Perez\u2019s regrets and apology, excuses couldn\u2019t change that her decisions led to a young man being killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cZeke was like a plane sitting on the runway, preparing to take off into a life of service, purpose and powerful impact. And then, in a single moment, Sunshine Perez put an end to everything, everything, \u201d said Frank Urrutia.<\/p>\n

The judge ultimately decided to sentence her to 20 years with 10 years of probation.<\/p>\n

Soon after the judge delivered his decision, the family made comments, saying they were at peace with the outcome despite it not being the maximum possible sentence that could\u2019ve been done.<\/p>\n

Urrutia\u2019s family also said they\u2019ve established a scholarship in his honor to help aspiring firefighters.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – A woman who pled guilty to a killer crash learned her fate on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-351616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}