After tearful, tense trial, closing arguments set for Monday in George Pino case

MIAMI — The manslaughter and vessel homicide trial of South Florida real estate mogul George Pino is nearing its end. Both sides are set to deliver their closing arguments on Monday.

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Pino, 55, is facing charges in connection with a September 2022 boat crash that killed 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez off Boca Chita Key. The crash seriously injured another 17-year-old, Katerina Puig.

Opening statements began with prosecutors saying Pino’s allision with a channel marker happened as a result of criminal negligence and recklessness.

“Lucy is dead because the defendant failed to do the most basic things that rules of the water require,” Assistant State Attorney Laura Adams told jurors.

Defense attorneys argue the crash was a mere accident.

“The state admits this was not George’s intention. He did not intend for anybody to be hurt,” Pino’s attorney, Howard Srebnick, told jurors during opening statements. “His own daughter, his own wife, his own body was on that boat.”

Defense openings were interrupted after Pino broke down for several minutes in front of jurors; the proceedings were halted and continued the next day.

Over the course of the trial, jurors heard from some of the 12 young women, all teenagers at the time, who were on board Pino’s boat, part of a celebration for his daughter’s 18th birthday.

“The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was George, and I thought he was dead,” Claudia Portocarrero testified. “I remember him, he had blood on his head.”

Some testified about the alcohol that George Pino and his wife, Cecilia Pino, provided, as well as the crash itself.

Fernandez’s father recalled the living nightmare he and his wife went through. Puig’s father also talked about how the crash affected his daughter.

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Jurors took a field trip to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission facility in North Miami to see the damaged 29-foot Robalo and watched body camera footage from the crash response and Pino’s questioning.

But the trial trial, not without its moments of conflict.

Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez issued a warning to Pino and his family for hugging in front of jurors.

A tense exchange between Adams and Pino also drew the judge’s attention after Adams brought up that Pino was reportedly muttering, “It happens, it happens, it happens,” during testimony.

“I’m sorry. Do you have something you want to say to me?” Adams asked Pino. “Why are you staring at me?”

Pino denied staring at her.

In another moment, Pino’s attorneys told Tinkler Mendez that there was “something of a stare down” between Adams and their client, followed by Adams “rolling her eyes” at Pino.

Cecilia Pino took the stand twice during the trial, recounting the harrowing aftermath of the crash off Cutter Bank.

“She died because your husband crashed into that channel marker, right?” Adams asked her during her first appearance on the stand.

“She died because there was an accident,” Cecilia Pino testified.

Cecilia Pino broke down when taking the stand for the second time, testifying, “I remember asking again, ‘Who is missing? Who is missing?’ And that’s when they told me that Lucy was missing.”

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Jurors will also be instructed on the law before beginning their deliberations.

If convicted, Pino faces anywhere between 11 to 30 years in prison.