Jury acquits Miami broker in deadly Biscayne Bay boat crash case

George Pino was acquitted after prosecutors spent years trying to turn a Labor Day weekend boating death into a felony homicide case, a sharp reminder of how hard it can be to prove criminal recklessness on the water. The Miami real estate broker and chief executive of State Street Realty had faced manslaughter and vessel homicide charges after the crash in Biscayne Bay near Boca Chita Key.

The case began on Sept. 4, 2022, when Pino was piloting a 29-foot Robalo with 14 people aboard. The boat struck a concrete channel marker, capsized, and threw everyone into the water. Seventeen-year-old Luciana “Lucy” Fernandez, a student at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, died. Another passenger, Katerina “Katy” Puig, survived but suffered permanent physical and neurological disabilities.

Pino initially faced three misdemeanor careless-boating counts. Prosecutors later elevated the case to felony homicide charges after new evidence emerged, including information that surfaced after Miami Herald reporting prompted a renewed look at the crash. Jurors also heard that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigated the wreck and that Pino’s statements to authorities were admitted at trial. The defense argued that the collision was an accident, not criminal recklessness.

On June 22, 2026, the jury returned not guilty verdicts on the manslaughter and vessel homicide counts after deliberating for more than an hour. The outcome ended one of Miami-Dade County’s most closely watched boating-crash prosecutions and left unresolved the central question that has shadowed the case from the start: when does a deadly accident on open water cross the line into a crime?

The acquittal also highlights a broader accountability problem in recreational boating, where enforcement is split across agencies and cases often turn on fast-moving facts, witness accounts, and the quality of evidence after the fact. In this case, the public profile of the defendant, the severity of the loss, and the long path from misdemeanor charges to a felony trial only deepened scrutiny of the system’s ability to punish fatal mistakes. Florida lawmakers responded to the crash by considering tougher penalties, including Senate Bill 58, proposed by Sen. Ileana Garcia, to increase punishment for boating-related injuries, serious bodily injury, death, and fleeing a boating accident involving death.