George Pino trial judge sternly denies last-minute delay request: ‘We are not delaying this trial’

MIAMI — Jury selection is expected to be finalized Friday in the vessel homicide trial of real estate developer George Pino. But not before a Miami-Dade judge tersely denied last-minute requests to delay the trial.

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Pino, 55, is charged in the death of 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez after a boat crash on 2022’s Labor Day weekend.

Authorities said Pino, then 52, was behind the wheel of a 29-foot Robalo boat in the early evening hours of Sept. 4, 2022 when he lost control and slammed it into a channel marker near Boca Chita Key, killing Fernandez. Two other girls were seriously hurt, including 17-year-old Katerina Puig.

On Friday, 76 potential jurors were quizzed on their jobs, life experiences and any biases they may be coming in with and what they knew about the case.

But Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez expressed frustration at both Pino’s attorneys and prosecutors.

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The former filed some late motions and provided late witnesses. The latter said that they conducted a deposition and would, in light of some of this new information and things that were turned over from the defense, have to do some more work and asked the judge for a one week continuance.

That request did not go over well.

“Let me tell you all: we are not delaying this trial,” Tinkler Mendez said.

Tinkler Mendez called the defense’s late filings “willful violations” of what’s called the Richardson rule, pertaining to potential violations of pre-trial discovery procedures.

Opening statements are set to begin as early as Monday, provided that a jury can be seated Friday.

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