George Pino boat-crash trial proceeds after judge weighs defense request

The trial against Doral real estate broker George Pino will proceed after a judge rejected Pino’s request to find him not guilty of criminal charges stemming from the boat crash that killed a 17-year-old girl.

Read more State rests in George Pino’s boat-crash trial after testimony about Lucy’s death

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez denied Pino’s motion for judgment of acquittal, which allows a judge to find a defendant not guilty without sending the case to a jury. Attorney Howard Srebnick made the motion Monday evening after prosecutors rested their case.

Such a motion is rarely granted and requires a judge to find that no rational jury could find the defendant guilty.

Pino, 54, is on trial on charges of manslaughter and vessel homicide in the Sept. 4, 2022, boat crash. Luciana “Lucy” Fernandez, 17, was killed, and Katerina “Katy” Puig, now 21, another passenger, was left with physical and neurological disabilities. Dozens of Lucy’s loved ones and Pino’s supporters tightly packed both sides of the large courtroom.

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READ MORE: State rests in George Pino’s boat-crash trial after testimony about Lucy’s death

On Monday, the state rested after calling a former member of the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office to testify about the extent of Lucy’s injuries. Dr. David Fintan Garavan said Lucy’s official cause of death was drowning. But the girl, he said, also suffered significant blunt force trauma from the impact of the boat crashing into the steel channel marker.

Among the last witnesses called was boating expert Lt. Paul Alber, who testified that Pino traveled the length of three football fields — going 47 mph — in the nine seconds before the crash. Alber walked jurors through Pino’s trajectory on the day of the crash in a series of maps created from GPS data. Alber inspected Pino’s 29-foot Robalo and said he was contacted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the lead investigating agency, the day after the crash to analyze the boat’s GPS.

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This report will be updated