Tears were shed on both sides of the courtroom when the driver in a June 2025 Springs car accident that killed one teenager and injured six others was sentenced in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead on Wednesday.
Justice Steven A. Pilewski sentenced Luis Barrionuevo-Fuertes, 19, of Moriches to four to 12 years in prison.
What happens next is in the hands of the Department of Corrections, which will determine which upstate prison facility he will be confined to. At the moment, he is housed at the Suffolk County jail in Yaphank.
He was taken away by guards after looking toward his family, who were seated in the audience.
On Feb. 11, Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes pleaded guilty in Suffolk County Criminal Court to 19 charges stemming from the accident and the death of Scarleth Urgiles Samaniego, 19, a backseat passenger in the car who was a junior at East Hampton High School.
Ms. Urgiles Samaniego’s mother, Gabriella, wept as Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes read a letter aloud to the courtroom. She closed her eyes as he said, through an interpreter, “I just want to say I’m sorry. . . . Those are the only words I can think of to say.”
“In my prayers there isn’t a single day I don’t say ‘I’m sorry’ to Scarleth,” he said. He asked for forgiveness from Ms. Urgiles Samaniego’s family as well as the families of the other people injured in the accident, whom he named in his letter.
Ms. Urgiles Samaniego’s mother ultimately left the room with her son, the victim’s brother, while Mr. Barrioneuvo-Fuertes spoke. The pair declined to make victim impact statements or speak to reporters after leaving the courtroom.
Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes had been driving seven teenagers home from Maidstone Park Beach in his 2006 Toyota Camry, six of whom were in the backseat, when he lost control of the vehicle on Old Stone Highway. He hit a tree and the sedan rolled onto its side, killing Ms. Urgiles Samaniego and injuring all the other occupants.
One of them, an 18-year-old, sustained a spinal fracture and “significant disfigurement” of her hand, according to the Suffolk County district attorney. All the passengers had been students at East Hampton High School, and the accident, occurring on the eve of the final day of classes, rocked the school community.
Police said Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes had been drinking before the accident and that recording software in his car documented speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour in the moments before the crash. The speed limit on Old Stone Highway is 30 miles per hour.
Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes was later indicted by the county.
Before the accident, Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes had participated in a two-year BOCES law enforcement program. He had hoped to join the military. His attorney, Melissa Aguanno, said in February that she had informed him that would no longer be possible, even after he completes his sentence.
The most serious of the charges he pleaded to include aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter in the second degree, aggravated vehicular assault, vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, two counts of assault in the second degree, vehicular assault in the first degree, two counts of vehicular assault in the second degree, and aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child in the vehicle.
The last count came because one of the passengers was 15 at the time of the accident. Eight additional misdemeanor charges and one speeding infraction were also part of the long list of charges.
Seven of the misdemeanor charges carried one-to-three-year sentences, two carried three-year sentences, eight carried one-year sentences, and the speeding violation 30 days. Justice Pilewski ordered that they all be served concurrently.
Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes will also have to serve three years of probation after his release and face a license revocation. Additionally, he will have to pay a $5,000 fine and a $570 surcharge.
Along with the 15-year-old and the 18-year-old who sustained the spinal fracture, the other passengers in the car, all from East Hampton, included two who were 19, one who was 18, and one who was 17.
