Sarasota DUI Driver Sentenced In Crash That Killed 2: FL State Attorney

SARASOTA, FL — A driver who caused a high-speed crash that killed two people at a Sarasota intersection while driving drunk two years ago has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Joshua Adam Slieff was sentenced to 20.2 years in prison, followed by five years of probation, by Circuit Judge Andrea DeCanio after pleading guilty to two counts of DUI manslaughter and one count of refusing to submit to testing, State Attorney Ed Brodsky’s office said in a news release.

The crash happened shortly before 10 p.m. on Oct. 23, 2024, as Slieff was driving east on Fruitville Road toward Tuttle Avenue in an SUV at speeds exceeding 80 mph, the state attorney’s office said.

Leonel Ramirez, 37, and Reina Alcantar, 26, were stopped in a car at a red light when Slieff rear-ended their vehicle, pushing it through the intersection.

Alcantar died at the scene. Ramirez was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where he later died from his injuries without regaining consciousness, Brodsky’s office said.

Slieff refused to provide a breath sample, but investigators obtained a search warrant to draw his blood. Testing showed his blood alcohol concentration was 0.220, nearly three times Florida's legal limit of 0.08, prosecutors said.

The investigation by the Sarasota Police Department's Traffic Homicide Unit included witness interviews, surveillance footage, cellphone GPS data and the SUV's event data recorder. Investigators determined Slieff didn’t apply his brakes until half a second before the collision.

They also found that he had been drinking at several downtown Sarasota establishments before getting behind the wheel.

Slieff had previously been arrested for DUI in Massachusetts in 2018 and participated in a first-time offender program there. He also refused to provide a breath sample in that case.

"His failure to learn from that experience has now cost two lives," Assistant State Attorney Brian Chambers said in a statement. “Further, Ms. Alcantar and Mr. Ramirez each had two children, and those four children will now grow up with the empty space left behind by Mr. Slieff's choices.”

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