Closing arguments to begin in George Pino vessel homicide trial

MIAMI — Closing arguments will begin Monday in the trial of real estate mogul George Pino, who is accused of causing a boat crash in 2022 that killed his daughter’s 17-year-old friend and left another teen disabled.

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Pino, 55, is charged with manslaughter and vessel homicide.

Prosecutors accuse Pino, then 52, of being reckless when he lost control of his 29-foot Robalo boat in the early evening hours of Sept. 4, 2022 and slammed it into a channel marker near Boca Chita Key, killing Lucy Fernandez. Two other girls were seriously hurt, including 17-year-old Katerina Puig, who was left permanently disabled.

The teens were on his boat celebrating his daughter’s 18th birthday.

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.

“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, but said they did not see George Pino drinking alcohol himself.

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 boat and watched body camera footage from the crash response and Pino’s questioning.

But the trial was 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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George Pino did not testify in his trial.

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

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