Prominent businessman charged with homicide in teen girl's boat death
A prominent Florida real estate developer facing a homicide charge turned himself in to authorities last week, two years after his involvement in a 2022 boat crash off the coast of Miami that killed a teenage girl.
George Pino, 54, was operating a 29-foot vessel with his wife and 12 minors present on Sept. 4, 2022 when he crashed into a channel marker near Boca Chita Key, which killed 17-year-old Luciana Fernandez and seriously injured another 17-year-old and a 16-year-old, according to prosecutors and officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Pino appeared in a Miami-Dade Court on Thursday surrounded by dozens of relatives and friends in the courtroom, the Miami Herald reported. He pleaded not guilty to a felony homicide charge in the fatal September 2022 incident.
"I am dismayed by the State’s surprise-decision to file this felony charge more than two years later," Pino's attorney, Howard Srebnick, told Fox News Digital in a statement, in part.
A judge last week ordered Pino be booked into jail on a charge of vessel homicide/operate in reckless manner in the 2022 crash. He has since been released, according to his Miami-Dade case file.
Pino, who took the boat out to celebrate his daughter's birthday, declined a blood-alcohol level test immediately after the crash and told officials he wanted an attorney present, according to the FWC report and a civil lawsuit.
FWC's investigation into the incident last year found that Pino was not impaired by drugs or alcohol while operating the boat due to the boat's driving pattern.
"It is insulting to our family, who has had no choice but to accept the consequences of the accident, to now also be forced to accept the numerous inconsistencies refuted by the FWC report," Andres and Melissa Fernandez, Luciana’s parents, said in a previous statement to Fox News Digital.
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However, new body camera footage of Pino speaking with FWC officers after the crash, released last month, showed Pino admitting to having two beers but declining to give a blood sample, and authorities said he also refused a breathalyzer, NBC6 reported.
Prosecutors re-evaluated the case and filed the new charge after a new witness – a Miami-Dade firefighter who responded to the boat crash – came forward and told prosecutors alcohol was a factor in the crash, an attorney for the Fernandez family told the outlet.
A total of 61 empty alcohol bottles and cans, one empty champagne bottle and a half-full liquor bottle were found on board, according to the FWC.
"Officers on the scene of the crash determined that Pino was not intoxicated; Pino did not exceed any posted speed limit, Pino had the required number of Coast Guard-approved life preservers on board the vessel, and despite sustaining a head injury himself (requiring fifteen stitches), Pino made heroic efforts to rescue the injured passengers, including diving under the capsized boat," Pino's attorney continued in the statement to Fox News Digital.
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The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office initially charged Pino with three misdemeanors, including one count of careless operation of a vessel causing death and two counts of careless operation of a vessel causing serious bodily injury.
The misdemeanor charges were dropped on Oct. 31, and the homicide charge was filed last month.
"I hope that the State Attorney will soon recognize that this was a tragic accident—not a crime, much less a felony—and will dismiss the charge rather than pursuing a trial that will unnecessarily force everyone affected to relive this nightmare in a public courtroom," Srebnick said in his statement.
Pino's next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2025.
Fox News Digital's Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.