{"id":316277,"date":"2026-06-23T00:01:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/316277\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T00:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:01:17","slug":"george-pino-found-not-guilty-in-boat-crash-that-kills-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/316277\/","title":{"rendered":"George Pino found not guilty in boat crash that kills girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"George<\/p>\n

George Pino reacts after the jury’s not-guilty verdict is read in court on Monday, June 22, 2026. Pino was facing manslaughter and vessel homicide charges.<\/p>\n

Carl Juste<\/p>\n

cjuste@miamiherald<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/p>\n

The investigation into 2022 boat crash that killed a high school student<\/p>\n

\n On Sept. 4, 2022, a boat operated by real estate broker George Pino crashed in Biscayne Bay, killing 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez.\n <\/p>\n

Expand All<\/p>\n

A jury on Monday night found Doral real estate broker George Pino not guilty of felony charges stemming from a boat crash that killed a teen girl.<\/p>\n

Pino, 54, cried when the verdict was read. The jury, made up of five men and one woman, found Pino not guilty of manslaughter and vessel homicide charges in the Sept. 4, 2022, boat crash in Biscayne Bay. Luciana \u201cLucy\u201d Fernandez, 17, was killed, and Katerina \u201cKaty\u201d Puig, now 21, another passenger, was left with physical and neurological disabilities.<\/p>\n

\"Lucy Lucy Fernandez The Fernandez family <\/p>\n

The jury deliberated for more than an hour.<\/p>\n

\"George George Pino reacts after the jury’s not-guilty verdict is read in court on Monday, June 22, 2026. Pino was facing manslaughter and vessel homicide charges stemming from 2022 boat crash that killed Lucy Fernandez, a student at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

Pino\u2019s supporters sighed and sniffled when the verdict was announced. Loved ones of Lucy were stoic and quiet and rushed out of the courtroom once jurors were excused. Pino gestured a \u201cthank you\u201d to jurors and then embraced his friends and family while sobbing.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Jury deliberates: Was fatal boat crash just an accident \u2014 or was Pino reckless?<\/a><\/p>\n

In a statement after the verdict, defense attorney Howard Srebnick said he was grateful that jurors carefully considered the evidence to reach a just verdict.<\/p>\n

\"George George Pino reacts after the jury’s not-guilty verdict is read in court on Monday, June 22, 2026. Pino was facing manslaughter and vessel homicide charges, two felonies. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the beginning, we have maintained that the events of September 4, 2022, were a tragic accident, not a crime,\u201d Srebnick said. \u201cThe testimony presented at trial, including unrebutted accounts from eyewitnesses who saw no signs of impairment, confirmed that Mr. Pino was not under the influence, was not operating the vessel recklessly and that he did everything he could to protect his passengers after the accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the verdict, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement that her office decided to charge Pino with a felony after determining that there was sufficient evidence that Pino\u2019s actions were reckless, although the jury ultimately disagreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, I know that this verdict brings no comfort to the Fernandez and Puig families who forever must live with the tragedy of what happened,\u201d Fernandez Rundle said. \u201cIn a case like this, there are no winners or losers. Mr. Pino must live with what he did, while the Fernandez and Puig families will grapple with the consequences of his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fernandez family declined to comment when reached by the Herald about the verdict. The Puig family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Pino was taking his wife, Cecilia, their daughter and 11 of his daughter\u2019s friends back to the Ocean Reef Club in north Key Largo that night from an afternoon outing on Elliott Key. The outing was to celebrate the daughter\u2019s 18th birthday. There was a dinner planned at Ocean Reef at 9 p.m.<\/p>\n

During closing arguments, prosecutor Laura Adams said Pino operated the boat recklessly when he sped through the Cutter Bank channel at 47 mph, very fast for a boat. He operated his 29-foot Robalo on the wrong side of the channel and ultimately rammed into the steel marker.<\/p>\n

The boat capsized, and the 14 passengers were hurtled into the bay. Lucy was trapped under the boat and died the next day in the hospital.<\/p>\n

\"Lead Lead prosecutor Laura Adams holds a photo of Lucy Fernandez during her closing arguments on Monday, June 22, 2026 in Courtroom 4-1 at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami, Florida. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t blowing a stop sign,\u201d Adams told the jury during closing arguments Monday morning in Pino\u2019s trial. \u201cThis is blowing into the stop sign while on the wrong sign of the road when you\u2019ve been drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Howard Srebnick, however, argued that the crash was a tragic accident \u2014 and did not amount to a crime.<\/p>\n

\"Defense Defense attorney Howard Srebnick delivers his closing arguments on Monday, June 22, 2026, in Courtroom 4-1 at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami, Florida. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

\u201cHe may have committed human error\u2026 but that does not make him a criminal,\u201d Srebnick said.<\/p>\n

The trial was one of the most anticipated in recent years due to Pino\u2019s prominence in South Florida and because the investigation was controversial from the start.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors reopen case<\/p>\n

Pino was initially charged in August 2026 with three counts of careless boating, a minor misdemeanor carrying a minimum sentence of 60 days in county jail. However, following a series of Miami Herald stories detailing flaws in the investigation, including police not following up with key eyewitnesses, the Miami-Dade State Attorney\u2019s Office reexamined the case and charged Pino with vessel homicide in October 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Lead Lead prosecutor Laura Adams offers a rebuttal argument during her closing argument on Monday, June 22, 2026 in Courtroom 4-1 at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami, Florida. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

Prosecutors added the manslaughter charge in early 2025 after several of the girls on the boat gave sworn statements that they drank heavily from booze stashed in a cooler on Pino\u2019s boat. Both charges are second-degree felonies punishable by up to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Pino told the lead Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigator on scene that night that he had \u201ctwo beers.\u201d FWC investigators found 61 empty or partially empty alcoholic containers on the boat when it was salvaged from the water the next day.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Pino did not face boating under the influence charges. The FWC, which investigates all fatal boat crashes in Florida, never gave him a sobriety test or took his blood to test for alcohol the night of the crash. His attorneys contend the containers found on Pino\u2019s boat were collected from other friends\u2019 vessels partying with them on the sandbar that day.<\/p>\n

And, several witnesses testified at the trial that they didn\u2019t observe Pino showing signs of intoxication before or after the crash. Pino did not testify during the trial.<\/p>\n

\"The The wrecked boat belonging to Doral real estate broker George Pino is made available to members of press after the departure of the jurors in the manslaughter trial of Pino on Thursday, June 11, 2026 at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission storage yard in North Miami. He crashed the vessel on Sept. 4, 2022, killing 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Another controversy during the trial was the reason Pino had given for crashing into the channel marker. Until the weeks before the trial, Pino told investigators that another boat coming at him in the channel caused him to lose control of his vessel and crash.<\/p>\n

But, no one else, including the people on his Robalo or other boaters in the channel, saw that other boat. Months later, he made the same claim in a sworn statement in a civil case the Puigs filed against the Pinos.<\/p>\n

However, in the weeks before the trial started, Pino\u2019s attorneys filed a flurry of motions, including one that would exclude the jury from hearing about the other boat. During the trial, Diana Barratt, a Boca Raton neurologist hired by the defense, testified that the other boat theory was a result of Pino’s memory being clouded because he suffered traumatic brain injury on impact with the channel marker.<\/p>\n

Barratt, when questioned by Adams, testified that Pino\u2019s brain scan was normal.<\/p>\n

This report will be updated<\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 6:51 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Grethel Aguila<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Grethel covers courts and the criminal justice system for the Miami Herald. She graduated from the University of Florida (Go Gators!), speaks Spanish and Arabic and loves animals, traveling, basketball and good storytelling. Grethel also attends law school part time.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Pino reacts after the jury’s not-guilty verdict is read in court on Monday, June 22, 2026. Pino…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-316277","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\/316277","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=316277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}