Man allegedly poisoned pregnant girlfriend with cocaine; Millionaire acquitted in teen’s death – TCN Sidebar

**Joshua Ritter** (0:11)
Hello and welcome to The Sidebar, presented by True Crime News, taking you inside the courtrooms of high-profile and notorious cases from across the country. I'm your host, Joshua Ritter. I'm a criminal defense lawyer based in Los Angeles and previously an LA County prosecutor for a decade. We are recording this on Wednesday, June 24th, 2026 In this week's episode, a former NFL scout accused of fatally poisoning his pregnant girlfriend with cocaine, plus the potential removal of the death penalty from Tyler Robinson's trial. But first, a Florida man acquitted in a boat crash that killed one of his daughter's friends. Today, we are joined by Vinnie Politan, Emmy Award-winning journalist and Court TV's lead anchor, who you can also find on his very own YouTube channel.
Vinnie, hello. How are you doing, my friend?

**Vinnie Politan** (0:59)
Great to see you, Josh. We're all back from Vegas. We're all in one piece. Let's go.

**Joshua Ritter** (1:04)
I was going to say, have you recovered yet from CrimeCon? That was quite a weekend.

**Vinnie Politan** (1:09)
It was. It was just a weekend. I thought it was like three weeks. It was just a weekend. No, it was intense.
Great to meet everyone out there and incredible people from the true crime community. So it was a win-win. Although I didn't gamble at all, not one dollar.

**Joshua Ritter** (1:26)
Me neither. I was too exhausted. Honestly, everybody wanted to go out afterwards. And I'm like, you all have fun. I'm going to bed. It was like my saddest Las Vegas experience. But the convention itself was fantastic. And yeah, seeing everybody was really thrilling.

**Vinnie Politan** (1:44)
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It's a place where we get together and you learn more stories. You get to meet some of the people that you talk to, like we talk to each other here, miles and miles apart.
And then face to face with the folks who are supporting the true crime community. And everyone is so invested. And I think that's an important part. And that's what makes these stories important.

**Joshua Ritter** (2:08)
It's very true. Yeah, we get too used to, I think, kind of sitting in a studio or in a room staring at a camera. And we don't realize the community of people out there. So it's nice to kind of put some faces to names that I've become familiar with. Let's jump in, though, to these cases, because these are some big ones. It was a busy week in true crime. First out of Miami-Dade County, Florida, the millionaire real estate broker at the center of a fatal boat crash can breathe easy after jurors acquitted the man on all counts. George Pino faced charges of vessel homicide and manslaughter in the death of Lucy Fernandez, who tragically drowned in the accident. Prosecutors claim Pino made, quote, mistake after mistake in piloting his boat that day, driving nearly 50 miles per hour on the wrong side of a channel before striking a channel marker, capsizing the boat. They also argued that alcohol played a role in the crash, though Pino never faced charges related to drinking and authorities never performed sobriety or blood tests. Pino's defense asserted that the man made a mistake but denied criminal culpability claiming he never meant to put the passengers in harm's way.
The jury ultimately agreed, reaching their not guilty verdict in under two hours at the culmination of the two-week trial. Accepting the verdict, Miami-Dade County DA Catherine Fernandez-Rundle maintained the office's belief that Pino acted recklessly, adding, quote, In a case like this, there are no winners or losers. Mr. Pino must live with what he did, while the Fernandez and Puig families will grapple with the consequences of his actions.
Go ahead and jump right in, Vinnie. Two hours, or under two hours, for a two-week long verdict. That's pretty quick. Do you, were you surprised at all by this verdict?

**Vinnie Politan** (3:55)
I thought it was very quick. And one of the reasons I was surprised how quickly it was, is that there was no lesser included. George Pino fought against successfully from the judge instructing the jury that they could find him guilty of something less, a misdemeanor. And I thought that was very risky on his part. But it paid off for him. So it was all or nothing. He was either guilty of manslaughter and vessel homicide facing, I guess, 15 years in prison for each count, versus not guilty. And in less than two hours, they all agreed. But it was a jury of six.
So you've got to put that into it. It's easier for six people to agree to something than 12
But the bottom line, it was fast, no matter how you look at it.