MIAMI, FL — A Miami-Dade County jury has found South Florida real estate broker George Pino not guilty of vessel homicide and manslaughter in a 2022 boating crash that killed his daughter’s 17-year-old friend, Lucy Fernandez.
Jurors reached the verdict after deliberating for less than two hours on Monday evening, ending a roughly two-week trial that featured emotional testimony from family members, passengers and first responders. Pino, 55, did not testify. He was visibly emotional after the verdict, crying and embracing his family in the courtroom.
The case centered on a Labor Day weekend outing that turned deadly when Pino’s 29-foot Robalo struck a marker in the Cutter Bank channel, injuring nearly everyone aboard and leaving one teen with life-changing injuries.
How the 2022 boating crash unfolded in the Cutter Bank channel
Officials said Pino was steering his boat on Sept. 4, 2022, when it hit a boat marker in the channel in Miami-Dade County. The impact caused the vessel to capsize, throwing passengers into a chaotic rescue scene.
Fernandez died from injuries she suffered in the crash. Everyone else on board, including Pino, his wife, their daughter and 10 of his daughter’s friends, was injured, according to officials.
Prosecutors also said teen passenger Katy Puig suffered catastrophic injuries and now requires 24/7 medical care. That detail became one of the central reminders of how far the damage from the crash extended beyond the fatality itself.
Prosecutors said Pino made a series of dangerous mistakes before impact
During closing arguments, prosecutor Laura Adams told jurors that Pino had made “mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake” before the crash. She said he failed to keep a proper lookout, drove too fast for the number of passengers on board and was inattentive for nine seconds before impact.
Adams said Pino was traveling nearly 50 mph and was on the wrong side of the channel when he struck the marker. She also said prosecutors believed alcohol was involved because Pino and some of the minors had been drinking before the crash.
Adams argued that Pino made intentional choices about speed and direction, and that those choices amounted to culpable negligence that caused Fernandez’s death. Prosecutors also alleged he misled police by blaming a passing boat’s wave, even though they said there was no evidence another boat caused the loss of control.
Defense argued the crash was a tragedy, not a crime
Defense attorney Howard Srebnick told jurors that Pino made a mistake, but not a criminal one. He said Pino did not see the marker and that the teens sitting in the bow may have affected his view, rather than any reckless disregard for safety.
Srebnick also challenged the prosecution’s claims about speed and impairment. He said there was no speed limit in the channel, that people on the boat were not worried about how fast it was going and that Pino had two beers but was not impaired or charged with driving under the influence.
The defense also said Pino’s recollection may have been affected by the concussion he suffered in the crash. Srebnick described him as disoriented and said he still managed to find and pull Fernandez from under the overturned boat.
Emotional testimony from families and passengers shaped the trial
The trial was marked by strong emotions from the beginning. During opening statements, Pino reacted visibly as Srebnick described the close friendship between the teens and their families, and the courtroom was briefly cleared while the defense resumed the next day.
Jurors heard from Pino’s wife, several of Fernandez’s friends who were on the boat and law enforcement witnesses who helped respond to the scene. They also saw body camera footage from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials who were first to arrive.
Andres Fernandez, Lucy Fernandez’s father, testified about the aftermath at the scene after he and his wife rushed there from a sandbar. He said they were screaming, “Where’s Lucy?” before learning she had been taken to a hospital, where she died the next day.
State attorney says the verdict brings no comfort to the families
After the verdict, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said her office disagreed with the jury’s conclusion but accepted it. She said the outcome offered no comfort to the Fernandez and Puig families, who must live with the consequences of the crash.
Rundle said there were no winners or losers in a case like this, adding that Pino would have to live with what he did while the families and the wider community continue dealing with the impact of the tragedy.
The ruling closes a criminal case that had focused attention on a deadly day on the water and on the long-term harm suffered by the teenagers and families involved. The verdict leaves the crash legally unresolved in the eyes of prosecutors, even as the court has cleared Pino of the charges against him.
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