Two separate tragic incidents in Miami\u2019s waters \u2014 both tied to prominent local real estate figures and which each ended in the death of a teen \u2014 are headed for very different legal outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Commercial broker George Pino, CEO of Doral-based State Street Realty, faces a felony vessel homicide charge, and his attorneys recently filed a slew of court motions seeking to keep statements made by Pino and other information related to his alleged alcohol consumption<\/a> before the crash from being mentioned by prosecutors during his trial, slated to start on June 1, the Miami Herald reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pino was steering the boat on Biscayne Bay on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend in 2022 with 14 occupants, including his wife, daughter and 11 other teenage girls when the craft crashed into a concrete channel marker. The crash killed 17-year-old Luciana \u201cLucy\u201d Fernandez and left Katerina \u201cKaty\u201d Puig, now 21, with a lifetime of physical disabilities.<\/p>\n Pino\u2019s defense team is asking the court to exclude during trial a statement he made to an investigator the night of the crash that the wake of a larger boat headed toward his vessel and caused the crash.\u00a0<\/p>\n His attorneys are asking Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez to bar testimony from the jury trial that recounts a witness\u2019 statement that Pino had bloodshot eyes the night of the crash and that he had told police he had had \u201ctwo beers\u201d that day. The defense also wants to preclude the jury from hearing that Pino\u2019s boat contained 61 empty alcohol containers when it was pulled out from the water after the crash.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Pino had given some of his statements to police and an investigator before he was read his Miranda rights, according to his attorneys.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pino\u2019s attorneys also filed motions to dismiss the criminal charges or to move the trial to Palm Beach or Orlando due to extensive media coverage of the crash in Miami-Dade County.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pino originally faced misdemeanor charges of careless boating<\/a>, but prosecutors issued the more serious vessel homicide charge in 2024<\/a> after a witness came forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n