MIAMI (Court TV) — A man standing trial on charges that he killed his daughter’s teenage friend was scolded by the judge over public displays of affection he was receiving from the courtroom’s gallery.
George Pino appears in court on June 9, 2026. (Court TV)
George Pino, 55, is charged with manslaughter and vessel homicide for a boat crash in Biscayne Bay in 2022. Prosecutors say he was drinking before he got behind the wheel of the boat while hosting a birthday party for his underage daughter; when the boat was returning to the marina after spending hours at a sandbar, the vessel slammed into a channel marker. The crash killed 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez, one of Pino’s daughter’s friends. A second friend suffered permanent disabilities from the impact. Eleven of Pino’s daughter’s friends were on board the boat.
Emotions have been running high in the courtroom as families of the girls on the boat have been sitting in the gallery alongside Pino’s family; the defendant himself became so overcome with emotion during his attorney’s opening statement on Monday that the day’s proceedings had to adjourn early…