A Valley Stream man will serve up to eight years in prison for a deadly high-speed crash that killed his 23-year-old half-brother on the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway.
Joshua Pena, 25, was sentenced Monday to 3½ to 8¼ years after pleading guilty to manslaughter and other charges stemming from the June 2022 wreck. Prosecutors say Pena was drunk, unlicensed, and driving 127 mph when he lost control of his Mercedes and crashed into a guardrail.
The impact left his half-brother, Xavier Pena, trapped inside the wreckage. An off-duty firefighter passing by spotted the car leaning against a tree and called for help. Emergency crews extricated Xavier and rushed him to Nassau University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
Joshua, found walking near the scene, had a blood alcohol content of 0.17—more than twice the legal limit. His license had already been suspended in Queens for failing to respond to traffic summonses. He turned himself in to Nassau police seven months later, in January 2023.
“Joshua Pena’s recklessness—driving drunk, speeding, and ignoring a suspended license—sealed his brother Xavier’s fate,” District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement. “Xavier was just 23 years old, with plenty of life to live. Now his family mourns the years they’ve lost with a loving son.”
The DA’s office had pushed for a 6-to-12-year sentence. A Nassau County judge handed down less, though still enough to send a clear message.
Pena pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, DWI, and aggravated unlicensed operation.
