MIAMI — The defense called its final witnesses and rested its case on Wednesday in the George Pino vessel homicide trial, a day after Pino’s wife and a couple of passengers onboard the boat that day took the stand.
Pino, 55, is charged with manslaughter and vessel homicide.
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 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez. Two other girls were seriously hurt, including 17-year-old Katerina Puig, who was left permanently disabled.
Dr. Diana Barratt, a neurologist, testified Wednesday as a defense expert witness, confirming she was retained by Pino’s defense team to determine whether the real estate mogul had suffered a brain injury in the crash and whether or not that could lead to some form of amnesia or unknowingly giving false information.
She confirmed that she met with Pino and reviewed his medical records, determining that he did suffer a brain injury in the crash.
“When he bumped his head, there was blood accumulating under the surface of the skin,” Barratt said. “He was witnessed unconscious on the boat and so that made it very clear that he met the diagnostic criteria for traumatic injury.”
Barratt added that people who suffer a traumatic brain injury “can forget things immediately preceding the injury, and then things immediately after the injury, and sometimes they have trouble retaining old memories.”
Barratt said Pino made multiple wrong statements to investigators after the crash, including who was sitting behind him, which showed signs of having false memory after a traumatic brain injury.
“There was no scientific test that you could administer to prove that he had amnesia, was there?” prosecutor Laura Adams asked when it was her turn to question the defense’s expert witness.
“After the fact? No,” Barratt responded.
The state pressed Barratt on how she came to her diagnostic conclusion of Pino perhaps exhibiting a “false memory without the intent to deceive.”
“So you were evaluating his memory, but you didn’t ask him what he remembered, did you?” Adams asked.
“No, I relied on the records,” Barratt said.
Through the testimony of defense witness Andrew Mescolotto, a maritime attorney retained about a week after the boating incident to defend Pino by an insurance company, jurors learned about the incident-related civil claims that have since been resolved with several families, including the Fernandez and Puig families.
He testified the Pino had a marine insurance policy.
Mescolotto testified during direct examination with defense attorney Howard Srebnick that “it was very important” to Pino to “resolve” the medical claims filed by families of those injured in the crash.
During cross-examination with Adams, the witness also conceded part of the process included mitigating against Pino’s financial liability while working to resolve the claims.
Pino’s wife, Cecilia Pino, told jurors Tuesday about the chaotic moments after the crash and said that afterward she was “just thinking of the girls.”
Claudia Portocarrero, who was on the boat celebrating the 18th birthday of the Pinos’ daughter, said she and her friends were singing and waving their hands prior to the crash.
The defense claims something may have obstructed George Pino’s view of the channel marker, but the state maintains that none of the girls were standing up or placing their hands up in a way that would have obstructed Pino’s view.
“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.
A witness who was on another boat told the jury that his friend called out to Pino to check under the boat and Pino “immediately” went under the boat and then pulled Fernandez out before handing her over to the witness who had jumped into the water.
The witness said he then helped place her onto another boat that arrived.
Pino’s defense team claims the crash was a horrible accident and not the result of negligence.
After Srebnick wrapped up the defense’s case, Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez again denied his request to have one or both of the charges tossed.
Proceedings wrapped up just before 5 p.m. With no court on Friday, Tinkler Mendez and the parties agreed to have jurors back on Monday for closing arguments, giving jurors Thursday off as well.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
