In a Miami courtroom on Tuesday, jury selection for the trial of Mexican actor Pablo Lyle began.
After hitting Juan Ricardo Hernández Sr., 63, in a road rage incident in Miami on March 31, 2019, Lyle, 35, is charged with manslaughter. Four days later, Hernández Sr., a native of Cuba, passed away at a nearby hospital.
According to Univision, the actor’s defence team and state prosecutors questioned at least 100 of the 250 potential jurors in the Miami-Dade County Courthouse.
However, 35 prospective jurors were disqualified from serving on the criminal jury because they claimed to be familiar with Lyle or the case.
According to NBC 6, one witness reportedly informed the judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez that the pool conducted discussions regarding the case outside of the courthouse.
Lyle, who has been in various Mexican soap operas and has the title part in the Netflix series “Yankee,” has been released on bond and has been living with his sister in Miami while waiting for the start of a case that has been repeatedly delayed.
The disagreement that started the altercation happened in the middle of a Miami street after Lyle’s automobile reportedly cut off Hernández Srcar .’s on a freeway.
Hernández Sr. was shown on surveillance tape at the time of the incident getting out of his car at a red light and going up to Lyle’s car, which was being driven by his brother-in-law, Lucas Delfino, to complain about being cut off.
Hernández Sr. looked to be about to unlock the driver’s door when Delfino exited his vehicle and confronted Hernández Sr.
When the car began to drive on its own at the intersection, Lyle stayed inside the car with his wife and two kids, who were going to the airport.
In order to put it in park and avert what could have been a catastrophic disaster, Delfino hastened back.
Then Lyle got out of the car and sprinted up to Hernández Sr., punching him in the face.
Lyle and his family got into their car and left Hernández Sr. alone on the floor.
A few hours later, while the actor awaited his flight to Mexico, he was stopped at Miami International Airport.
Hernández Sr. died on April 4 after family members instructed physicians to switch off his life support due to a brain lesion he had sustained from the accident.
According to Lyle, he acted in self-defense out of concern that the Cuban might shoot him.