What did Pablo Lyle do? Mexican actor sentenced to five years in prison for road-rage incident

On Friday, February 3, 2023, Mexican actor Pablo Lyle was sentenced to five years in prison, with eight years probation and 500 hours of community service, for fatally punching a man during a road-rage incident.

In April 2019, Pablo Lyle had an altercation with 63-year-old Juan Ricardo Hernandez during a road rage incident in Miami, Florida. The former allegedly punched Hernandez, who struck his head on the road when he landed. The victim reportedly suffered a brain injury and died in a local hospital four days later. In connection to the death, Lyle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in October 2022.

Lyle, who is a telenovela star from Mazatlan, Mexico, is best known for his roles in La Sombra Del Pasado and Yankee. The Associated Press reported that he has been detained since he was convicted in October last year.

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Hernández's son asked the judge to give Pablo Lyle the maximum sentence of 15 years

According to ABC, Pablo Lyle faced a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison. His defense claimed that Lyle acted in self-defense when punching Hernandez, as he was with his children at the time of the incident, and he supposedly believed the 63-year-old may have been armed. However, Hernandez was found without a weapon.

Soon after his October conviction, Lyle's defense team asked for a new trial, but Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez rejected the request. She claimed that surveillance footage of the incident, which showed Lyle running up to Hernandez and punching him, indicated that he was the primary aggressor in the incident. Tinkler said:

“The evidence shows that the action of Mr. Lyle was an act of violence. Mr. Lyle has to be held responsible for those actions.”

Hernandez's son, Juan Ricardo Hernández Jr., asked the judge to hand Lyle the maximum sentence of 15 years. He told the court that the day his father died, he was with him. Furthermore, the victim's son said he had allegedly visited his father soon after he was taken to the hospital, where he died four days later.

Hernandez Jr. said:

“I didn’t want to believe it was him."

The victim's fiancee, Mercedes Arce, said:

“I know it wasn’t (Pablo Lyle's) intention to kill him, but anything can happen in a second. Every action has a consequence.”

Tinkler, addressing the victim's family's request for the maximum sentence, said that neither party would be happy with her decision:

“This is one of the most difficult determinations I’ve had to make. Nobody here is going to be satisfied. Nobody here is going to forget the pain this has caused.”

Based on reports by Fox News, Pablo Lyle recently apologized for his actions to the victim's family during the trial hearing in an official statement, saying:

"I am very sorry. I always pray for him and for you, with all my heart."

Miami Herald further reported that the trial was widely followed among the Latin American community.