MIAMI — The trial continued Tuesday for South Florida real estate mogul George Pino who is accused of causing a boat crash in 2022 that killed a 17-year-old girl.
On Monday, the state rested its case after calling its final witnesses.
On Tuesday, the defense called its witnesses, including passengers who were onboard the boat at the time. Pino’s wife, Cecilia Pino, later took the stand.
Pino, 55, is facing manslaughter and vessel homicide charges in the death of 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, who was left permanently disabled.
Claudia Portocarrero was one of the passengers aboard the boat that day who testified Tuesday.
She said she and a group of friends were on Pino’s boat to celebrate his daughter’s 18th birthday.
Both Portocarrero and another passenger who testified Tuesday said the crash happened suddenly and they didn’t see it coming.
“I just remember opening my eyes after the impact and seeing like a lot of white,” Portocarrero said. “And the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was George, and I thought he was dead. I just saw a lot of blood gushing and then my friends were telling me that I had to get out of the boat … by the time I was going to get off the boat it was kind of almost like turned, flipped, so instead of jumping from the boat, I practically like stepped into the water because of how tilted it was.”
Portocarrero said she assisted one of her friends in helping to keep Puig afloat in the water before a rescue boat arrived.
Both she and another passenger who testified Tuesday said that while they each had a couple of alcoholic beverages, they didn’t see Pino drinking and said the speed of the boat did not feel excessive at the time of the crash.
Pino’s defense team claims the crash was merely an accident and not the result of negligence. Their witnesses also said the girls on the boat had their hands up at the time of the crash, potentially blocking Pino’s view of the channel marker.
Cecilia Pino was emotional retaking the stand on Tuesday.
Asked by defense attorney Howard Srebnick whether she was thinking about her husband while in the water in the immediate aftermath, she said, through tears, “I was just thinking of the girls.”
“We’ve loved those girls since they were little,” she testified.
Cecilia Pino also testified about a questionnaire filled out by her attorney as part of a civil suit against her and her husband
“Were all the answers in this true and correct to the best of your knowledge?” an attorney asked. Cecilia Pino answered affirmatively.
Prosecutor Laura Adams asked Cecilia Pino, “You signed a document under the penalty of perjury that the crash happened because of the wake of another vessel, correct?”
“Correct,” Cecilia Pino replied.
Adams tried to paint her statement about a second vessel as a lie.
“You didn’t answer saying ‘My husband told me that this is what happened,’ did you?” Adams asked.
Cecilia Pino replied, “No, but the answer ― the question ― doesn’t say that I saw anything."
The defense expects to call its final witnesses and then rest its case on Wednesday. It’s unclear whether George Pino will take the stand.
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