A Miami-Dade jury found real estate developer George Pino not guilty Monday on all charges stemming from a 2022 boat crash that killed one teenager and left another permanently disabled, closing one of the county’s most closely watched criminal cases in years.
Pino, 55, faced second-degree manslaughter and vessel homicide charges in the Sept. 4, 2022, crash off Boca Chita Key in Biscayne Bay. He had taken his wife, daughter and roughly a dozen of his daughter’s teenage friends out to celebrate her 18th birthday over Labor Day weekend. On the return trip, his boat struck a channel marker. The collision killed 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez and left Katy Puig, now 21, with life-altering injuries.
After eight days of testimony from more than 20 witnesses, the jury of five men and one woman acquitted Pino on both counts. Prosecutors had argued he piloted the vessel recklessly, accelerating through the channel before impact, and that he drank alcohol at a sandbar earlier in the day. The defense maintained the crash was a tragic accident, presenting eyewitnesses who said they saw no signs of impairment and an expert who testified Pino suffered a traumatic brain injury in the wreck.
“Today, thankfully, he won’t be branded a criminal for what we all know was just an accident,” lead attorney Howard Srebnick said outside the courthouse, adding that Pino is deeply sorry for what happened.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle said she disagreed with the verdict but accepted it. “Sadly, I know that this verdict brings no comfort to the Fernandez and Puig families,” she said, noting that jury decisions are the cornerstone of the justice system.
The Puig family said they were deeply disappointed and pointed to investigative failures on the day of the crash, including the fact that Pino was never given a sobriety test and no blood sample was taken. The Lucy Fernandez Foundation said its focus remains on Lucy, describing her as funny, kind and full of life, and urged boaters to take their responsibilities seriously. “Lucy’s life mattered,” the family said. “It will go on mattering long after this verdict is forgotten.”
