{"id":316280,"date":"2026-06-23T00:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/316280\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T00:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:05:15","slug":"florida-real-estate-mogul-george-pino-found-not-guilty-of-killing-lucy-fernandez-in-2022-boat-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/316280\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida real estate mogul George Pino found not guilty of killing Lucy Fernandez in 2022 boat crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida real estate mogul George Pino was found not guilty Monday of smashing his boat into a channel marker, leading to the death of a 17-year-old girl<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The jury in Miami-Dade County deliberated for about two hours before finding Pino, 55, not guilty of felony second-degree manslaughter and vessel homicide charges in the 2022 crash that killed Luciana \u201cLucy\u201d Fernandez and left another girl, then 18, with permanent and debilitating injuries. He pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

The father and well-known Doral real estate broker<\/a> had been hosting several teen girls for his daughter Carolina\u2019s 18th birthday on his 29-foot boat when they crashed in Biscayne Bay on Sept. 4, 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida real estate mogul George Pino was charged with second-degree manslaughter and vessel homicide following the fatal 2022 boat crash. TNS<\/p>\n

Pino was accused of driving the boat at 47 miles per hour<\/a> when it slammed into the channel marker, tearing a large hole in the side of the vessel and sending all of the passengers \u2014 including his wife, Cecilia, and 12 teen girls \u2014 into the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eleven people were injured, and six were taken to the hospital.<\/p>\n

Fernandez, who was reportedly trapped underneath the boat after it crashed, died from drowning-related injuries in the hospital about 12 hours later.<\/p>\n

The slain teen was seen in a heart-wrenching video taken earlier that day<\/a>, dancing and singing alongside her friends on the boat to Billy Joel\u2019s \u201cUptown Girl.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jurors listened to emotional testimony over eight days as Pino\u2019s defense attorney, Howard Srebnick, argued the fatal crash was nothing more than a tragic accident.<\/p>\n

Luciana \u201cLucy\u201d Fernandez, 17, died in the hospital after the boat crashed into the channel marker on Sept. 4, 2022. Lucy Fernandez Foundation<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single witness who testified that was on the boat \u2026 felt the speed was safe. They\u2019d been on his boat before, they felt nothing different, nothing unusual about how Mr. Pino was operating this vessel.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t drag racing, he wasn\u2019t doing donuts in the water \u2026 he was not trying to be the \u2018cool dad.\u2019 I don\u2019t know where that came from,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody on the boat asked George to slow down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vessel \u201cwas traveling in a straight line with a speed that [the boat] is designed to travel, in a zone where there\u2019s no speed limit,\u201d Srebnick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf George had not hit the piling, nothing bad would have happened. The conditions were ideal \u2026 there was no oncoming boat traffic \u2014 it was a wide open bay. The speed had nothing to do with the injuries \u2026with the crash,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Laura Adams, however, told the jury Pino was more concerned with being \u201cthe cool dad\u201d than with the safety of the passengers.<\/p>\n

Pino was accused of driving the boat at 47 miles per hour when it slammed into the channel marker, tearing a large hole in the side of the vessel and sending all of the passengers into the water. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was going full throttle with all these teenagers on board who have been consuming alcohol \u2014 as fast as he can through this narrow channel,\u201d Adams said during closing arguments Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Furthermore, \u201che decides to travel down the wrong side of the channel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause he was operating in such complete disregard for the kids on his boat, Lucy winds up like this in the hospital,\u201d the attorney continued, and flashed a chilling photo of Fernandez in a hospital bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody and no one is responsible for the death of Lucy Fernandez except for that man right there \u2014 he is the reason why she is dead,\u201d Adams continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adams claimed that Pino, who was not sobriety tested immediately after the incident, was likely lying about having \u201ctwo beers\u201d while on the boat, as he later told investigators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe lied over and over again about what happened. Why? To shift the blame off of himself and in an avoidance of accountability,\u201d the prosecutor said. \u201cJust as he wasn\u2019t exactly truthful about how the crash happened, perhaps he wasn\u2019t as exactly truthful about how much he had to drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

A day after the crash, investigators found a total of 61 alcohol bottles and cans on the boat, the Miami Herald reported<\/a> in July 2025.<\/p>\n

Pino \u201cwasn\u2019t thinking about the well-being of his passengers \u2014 he wasn\u2019t thinking about the well-being of his own wife and daughter,\u201d Adams slammed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was too wrapped up in trying to be the cool dad on the fast boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jurors ultimately sided with Srebnick\u00a0and found that Pino was not at fault.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful to the jurors for their careful consideration of the evidence and for reaching a just verdict. From the beginning, we have maintained that the events of September 4, 2022, were a tragic accident, not a crime,\u201d Srebnick said in a statement after his client was cleared. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe testimony presented at trial \u2014 including unrebutted accounts from eyewitnesses who saw no signs of impairment \u2014 confirmed that Mr.\u202fPino 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.<\/p>\n

We continue to mourn the loss of Lucy\u202fFernandez every day and to pray for all those affected by this maritime mishap. Our hearts remain with the families of those involved, and we hope today\u2019s verdict allows everyone to continue the long process of healing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida real estate mogul George Pino was found not guilty Monday of smashing his boat into a channel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9271,6818,28,30,29,123,30119,4278],"class_list":["post-316280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-boat-crashes","tag-boats","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-miami","tag-trials","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316280","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=316280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}