by MIAMI (AP) — Mexican actor Pablo Lyle was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for manslaughter after he fatally shot a man during a gunfight in Miami in 2019.
The ruling came nearly four years after Lyle was charged with murder in the death of a man shot in a car crash.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez announced the sentence two months after she rejected the plaintiff’s request for a new trial and upheld a guilty verdict reached by a jury in October.
The 36-year-old Mexican soap opera star, who appeared in the Netflix crime series ‘Yankee’, had faced a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison. The judge also ordered eight years of probation, conflict resolution management and 500 hours of community service for the actor.
The plaintiff has 30 days to appeal the sentence.
Dressed in a red prison uniform, Lyle appeared calm and expressed repentance during the more than three-hour hearing. He has been detained since his Oct. 4 sentencing.
“I’m very sorry,” Lyle said in Spanish, looking at some of the Hernández family who were in the courtroom, including his son. “I always pray for him and for you, with all my heart.”
After a week-long trial, a six-member jury convicted Lyle of manslaughter in the death of 63-year-old Juan Ricardo Hernández.
Hernández, who was unarmed, suffered a head injury and died four days later while recovering in hospital.
Lyle’s lawyers argued that he acted in self-defense. They also said there were inconsistencies in the evidence during the trial.
When handing down the sentence, the judge, however, said Lyle made a “bad decision” and acted “out of anger.”
“The evidence shows that Mr. Lyle’s action was an act of violence,” Tinkler said. “Mr. Lyle must be held accountable for such actions.
The collision was caught on security cameras.
Lyle’s brother-in-law was driving the actor, his wife and two children to the airport. Their car passed Hernández’s, who stopped for a red light, got out, and approached the driver’s window of Lyle’s vehicle to claim they had blocked his way.
According to security video footage, Lyle and Hernández argued and the actor punched Hernández in the face. Lyle claimed he was defending himself. He said his children were terrified and he feared Hernández had a weapon.
At the hearing, Lyle’s wife, brother-in-law and sister testified before the judge made his decision public.
On Hernández’s part, his son described him as a very cheerful, attentive person, with good health and principles. Juan Ricardo Hernández Jr. asked the judge to sentence Lyle to up to 15 years.
He said he had been with his father the day before the altercation.
“I didn’t want to believe it was him,” Hernández’s son said he went to the hospital to see his father after receiving news of the accident.
