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.
While Pino appeared more composed when the trial resumed on Tuesday, he was still noticeably moved by testimony and the photos introduced as evidence in the case. As the prosecutors and defense attorneys spoke to the judge during sidebars, people seated in the gallery approached the defendant to offer him hugs.
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Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez immediately put a stop to the behavior, noting that people were “actually having physical contact and hugging Mr. Pino. It is absolutely unacceptable,” she said. “This is a court of law. We’re not at a sporting event, not at a social event.” Prosecutor Laura Adams urged the judge to address the defendant individually. “Even though he has heard me ask multiple times last week and this week not to engage in public displays of affection, especially when a jury is around, he continues to do it. He allows it to happen,” Adams said. “I understand the court admonishing the people that are in the room, but the main person who should be admonished is the man who’s allowing it to happen, which is the defendant.” Mendez addressed Pino and warned him not to engage in physical contact with anyone and to restrict himself to writing notes to his attorneys.
Eyewitnesses who have testified so far have described an idyllic afternoon spent at the sandbar having fun with friends. Camilla Alvarez, a friend of Pino’s daughter, acknowledged that the underage girls were all drinking alongside the adults. Alvarez estimated having 10 drinks during the afternoon.
A video showing a group of girls on George Pino’s boat before the crash is shown in court. (Court TV)
Pino told investigators that he drank two beers over the more than two hours he spent at the sandbar. Lucy Fernandez’s father testified that he had seen Pino and the girls at the sandbar and had no concerns about Pino’s intoxication level or ability to pilot a boat safely. “The girls were drinking, the boys were drinking, the adults had drinks,” Andres Fernandez testified. “It was a situation where everybody was having drinks.”
Andres Fernandez said he last saw his daughter alive just before he left the party — she had come to his boat to ask for a rubber band and some sunscreen. “She gave me a hug, and I remember it clearly because that’s the last time I held her alive.”
After the crash, Andres Fernandez and his wife, Millie Fernandez, searched multiple hospitals before they were able to find their daughter. “Our nightmare escalates because we have no idea where Lucy is. We can’t find her. We don’t know where she went.” At the final hospital they went to, they showed a nurse a photo of Lucy on a phone. “The receptionist comes back and says, ‘Yes, somebody was brought here, but we cannot ID her from that picture because she’s in bad shape.’ And at that point, Mellie and I knew the inevitable,” Andres Fernandez testified. Lucy Fernandez died the next morning.
Andres Fernandez and his wife asked to be near his daughter after they found her; he said there was a large piece of fiberglass in her head. When Andres Fernandez went to remove it, he was told, “‘Don’t touch her, it’s evidence.’ And at that point in time, Mellie and I looked at each other and we’re like, ‘Our daughter’s a piece of evidence.'”
Pino’s defense team has conceded that the defendant drank two beers before driving the boat and also that he was in control of the vessel when it hit a channel marker, causing it to capsize. His attorney, Howard Srebnick, told the jury that the tragedy was a sheer accident and not the result of any reckless behavior by any party.
