Mexican actor Pablo Lyle, who appeared in the popular Netflix crime series 'Yankee', has been sentenced to five years in prison for involuntary manslaughter for fatally punching a man named Juan Ricardo Hernández during a road rage confrontation in Miami in 2019.

The judge also ordered conflict resolution management, eight years of probation, and 500 hours of community service for the actor.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez announced the sentence two months after rejecting the actor’s request for a new trial and upholding the guilty verdict reached by a jury in October.

While handing down her sentence, the judge, however, said that Lyle made a "poor decision" and acted "out of anger".

"The evidence shows that the action of Mr Lyle was an act of violence," Tinkler said. "Mr Lyle has to be held responsible for those actions."

The actor has 30 days to appeal the sentence.

Dressed in a red jail uniform, Lyle expressed repentance during the three-hour-long hearing. He has been in detention since October 4.

"I am very sorry," Lyle said in Spanish, looking at some of the members of the Hernández family who were in the courtroom. "I always pray for him and for you, with all my heart."

After a week-long trial, a six-member jury convicted Lyle of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 63-year-old Juan Ricardo Hernández.

Hernández was unarmed when the incident took place. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and died four days after he was hospitalised.

Lyle’s lawyers claimed that he acted in self-defence and that there were inconsistencies in the evidence during the trial.

The road confrontation was captured by security cameras.

Lyle’s brother-in-law was taking the actor, his wife and two children to the airport. Their car passed that of Hernández, who stopped at a red light, got out and approached the driver’s window of Lyle’s vehicle to claim that they had blocked his way.

According to security video footage, Lyle and Hernández got into an argument, and the actor punched Hernández in the face. Lyle claimed he was defending himself. He said that his children were terrified and that he feared Hernández had a weapon.

At the hearing, Lyle’s wife, his brother-in-law and his sister offered testimony before the judge made her decision public.

On Hernández’s side, his son described him as a very happy, attentive person, with good health and principles. Juan Ricardo Hernández Jr. asked the judge to sentence Lyle to a maximum of 15 years.

He said that the day before the altercation, he had been with his father.

"I didn’t want to believe it was him," Hernández’s son said of going to the hospital to see his father after receiving news of the incident.

Source: WION

BDST: 1945 HRS, FEB 04, 2023
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