MIAMI (WSVN) - A Mexican TV star was granted bond and has been placed under house arrest after a hit-and-run he was allegedly involved in turned fatal.
Pablo Lyle appeared in a Miami courtroom on Monday morning after he was arrested for punching 63-year-old Juan Ricardo Hernandez during a road rage incident near the area of Northwest 27th Avenue and 14th Street on March 31 before taking off.
A state attorney told the judge, “The defendant left the victim laying in the street. He got into his brother-in-law’s car and under oath, the brother-in-law told the Miami Police Department, ‘Pablo told me, ‘Go, go, go.'”
The judge granted Lyle a $50,000 bond, placed him under house arrest with a monitor and ordered the actor to surrender his passport.
Philip Reizenstein, Lyle’s attorney said, “It is our strong belief that in a manslaughter case that does not involve a firearm with someone with no priors, was presumed innocent, who is defending his family, does not require GPS monitoring where they need to know where he is all the time.”
Hernandez was left in critical condition but died four days later when his family made the decision to pull him off of life support.
Hernandez’s family made an appearance in court, as both sides made their arguments.
After the judge’s decision, Hernandez’s widow needed medical attention, and she was treated on scene.
The 32-year-old Lyle, who appeared handcuffed in court, was originally charged with battery, but now a judge will decide whether the charge should be escalated to murder.
Lyle’s attorney said the actor was acting in self-defense.
“What man wouldn’t defend three children, 4, 6 and 8, when somebody unlawfully, outrageously and suddenly comes up and starts banging on the window?” Reizenstein said. “Those kids were screaming. They were crying. Nobody knows what that man was going to do. He had no right to do what he did. You know, my mother used to say, ‘When you go looking for trouble, you’re gonna find it.’ That’s what happened here. It’s sad. It’s an accident. He had no intention to kill anybody. This isn’t a murder case, and the prosecutor should stop saying it’s a murder investigation.”
Prosecutors had asked the judge for a bond of $1 million.
A prosecutor told the judge, “The state is concerned about the ease with which this defendant travels back and forth to Mexico and perhaps losing him forever as a defendant once the charges are elevated. It’s been reported and it’s been spoken about that this may be a manslaughter, your honor. It may be a second-degree murder for which there is no bond. There’s a lot at stake in this case.”
“He signed a waiver of extradition,” countered Lyle’s attorney. “He completely cooperated with the police. He was told, ‘Be here Monday at 9,’ he’s here Monday at 9.”
Before the decision, the defense argued that Lyle was not a flight risk and that he had to travel for work and has family in South Florida.
Once Lyle posts bond, he will remain under house arrest in Miami until his scheduled arraignment on May 1.
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