MIAMI — Testimony continued Monday in the vessel homicide trial of real estate mogul George Pino.
The state called two more witnesses before resting its case.
Pino, 55, is facing manslaughter and vessel homicide charges in the death of 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez.
Prosecutors accuse Pino, then 52, of being reckless when he lost control of a 29-foot Robalo boat in the early evening hours of Sept. 4, 2022 and slammed it into a channel marker near Boca Chita Key, killing Fernandez. Two other girls were seriously hurt, including 17-year-old Katerina Puig.
His defense team counters that the crash was merely an accident and not the result of negligence.
One of the state’s witnesses was Paul Alber, a longtime law enforcement officer and boating expert.
He described the Cutter Bank channel, where the crash happened, as “basically the nautical equivalent of I-95.”
Alber was commissioned by the state to create a report analyzing the allision between Pino’s boat and the marker. He also testified about navigational rules and how the weight of 14 people on board a 29-foot boat ― something he described as a “big tight squeeze” ― affects its speed.
“Would having 10 girls affect the ability of that boat to hit that 54 or 55 mph top-rated speed?” Prosecutor Laura Adams asked.
Alber replied, “Absolutely.”
Prosecutors played filmed recreations of the boat’s path and speed. Data shows it went 47 mph, accelerating before hitting the channel marker. Alber says it struck first on the starboard bow, leaving green marks behind, scraping all along the starboard side.
Some of the most seriously injured all sat on the starboard side.
The defense tried to show flaws in the expert’s analysis and the recreation of the crash itself.
“Did you do any analysis of how the sun would reflect off of any of these markers in doing your analysis?” Pino’s attorney, Howard Srebnick, asked.
“No,” Alber replied.
He had responded affirmatively when Srebnick asked if an operator “might have his or her visibility obscured by the passengers seated in the front of that boat.”
Prosecutors began questioning their last witness, a forensic pathologist, going into the afternoon.
Dr. David Garavan testified as to Fernandez’s cause of death.
After the state rested, Pino’s attorneys asked the judge to throw out the case, saying the state failed to meet its burden of proof.
The judge said she would rule on the motion on Tuesday morning.
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