{"id":300994,"date":"2026-06-09T05:51:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/300994\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T05:51:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:51:24","slug":"judge-pauses-george-pinos-2022-fatal-boat-crash-trial-during-opening-arguments-due-to-health-concern-wsvn-7news-miami-news-weather-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/300994\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge pauses George Pino\u2019s 2022 fatal boat crash trial during opening arguments due to health concern – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI (WSVN) – Opening statements have been paused in the trial of George Pino, a real estate mogul accused of a deadly 2022 boat crash<\/a>, following a health incident involving the defendant.<\/p>\n

On day one of the trial, Pino began crying in court and said he wasn\u2019t feeling well, prompting fire rescue to be called to check the 55-year-old out. He was not transported to the hospital.<\/p>\n

Jurors were subsequently rushed out of the courtroom during the defendant\u2019s emotional moment. <\/p>\n

Following that interruption, the judge decided to finish for the day due to the incident and the courtroom\u2019s lack of AC.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Monday, opening statements were underway as prosecutors argued Pino is responsible for the death of 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez. Still, Pino\u2019s defense team said the incident was a tragic accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis, ladies and gentlemen, is a case about responsibility and accountability, or I should say, the lack of both, on the part of the defendant in this case, George Pino,\u201d said prosecutor Laura Adams.<\/p>\n

Adams laid out her case against Pino in front of jurors, recounting the tragic moments Fernandez was found.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re looking and looking. \u2018Where\u2019s Lucy? Where\u2019s Lucy?\u2019 Somebody yells to the defendant, still holding on to his boat, \u2018Look under the boat! Maybe she\u2019s trapped under there.\u2019 She was,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Through storytelling, prosecutors took jurors back to Labor Day 2022 when the boating tragedy occurred that claimed the life of Fernandez and permanently injured Kathy Puig.<\/p>\n

Both teens were students at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. <\/p>\n

Authorities said Pino struck a marker near Boca Chita Key while his wife, daughter, and 11 of her friends were on board.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors argue Pino was speeding through the channel before the crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight before he hits the channel marker, he\u2019s going 47 miles an hour. He\u2019s literally accelerating through that channel. Nine seconds. He never changes direction. He smashes right into it,\u201d said Adams.<\/p>\n

Adams called the GPS on Pino\u2019s vessel that day a \u201csilent witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGPS on his boat tracked his every move, his direction, when he changed direction, and it tracked his speed. The GPS on his boat was like a silent witness, watching and recording his every move,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also claim Pino had been drinking at a sandbar before.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the teenagers weren\u2019t the only ones that had consumed alcohol that afternoon. So did Mr. Pino,\u201d said Adams.<\/p>\n

Then it was the defense\u2019s turn. Pino\u2019s attorneys argue their client was not speeding, racing, texting, or impaired while navigating through the channel, calling the fatal crash a tragic accident.<\/p>\n

\u201c[He] loved Lucy. He\u2019d known Lucy since she was a little girl. He did not intend to crash into a marker. He did not intend for anybody to be hurt. His own daughter, his own wife, his own body was on that boat,\u201d said defense attorney Howard Srebnick.<\/p>\n

The judge has informed the jurors that they will be able to view the vessel in question.<\/p>\n

The trial will resume on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (WSVN) – Opening statements have been paused in the trial of George Pino, a real estate mogul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-300994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}