Miami, Apr 8 (EFE).- Judge Alan S. Fine on Monday set bail for Mexican soap opera actor Pablo Lyle at $50,000 and prohibited him from leaving Miami until his next court hearing on May 1 in the death of a man whom the actor hit in a road rage fight.
The actor’s mother fainted at his court hearing, and Lyle’s lawyers said that he only punched the victim once and never intended to kill anyone, thus arguing that the man’s death was not a homicide.
Attending the court hearing was Lyle’s partner, actress Ana Araujo, and the son of Juan Ricardo Hernandez, the 63-year-old Cuban man who died last Thursday at Miami’s Jackson Hospital, where he was taken immediately after the March 31 incident.
Lyle, who has been free on $5,000 bail, must now wear an electronic monitoring device after paying the new bail amount.
Prosecutors had asked that bail of $1 million be set for Lyle, claiming that this was a possible case of second degree murder, but the judge set the amount at only $50,000, as the defense had requested.
According to a video recorded by a security camera, after striking Hernandez, the car in which Lyle was riding as a passenger left the scene with the man lying unconscious on the ground.
The 32-year-old actor was arrested a few hours later and released after he paid the initial bail amount.
On April 2, Lyle requested permission from the court to travel to Mexico, a request that was granted by Miami-Dade County Judge Lisa Walsh.
However, Judge Walsh – when she learned on Friday of Hernandez’s death – ordered the actor to appear at a court hearing on Monday to revise the bail terms.
Lyle’s attorney Bruce Lehr, told the Miami Herald at the time that his client would appear any time the court required it.
The actor, who stars in the soap opera “Mi adorable maldicion,” said that he left the scene of the fight because he feared for the safety of his six-year-old son, who was in the car with him.
According to the police report, and as can be seen on the security video, Hernandez got out of his car at a red light and approached Lyle’s car to complain through the window because the other car had blocked his path.
The driver of Lyle’s car got out and got into an argument with Hernandez but then returned to the vehicle when he noticed that it was rolling.
The actor, who had also gotten out of the car, struck Hernandez in the face with his fist, knocking him unconscious whereupon he fell to the ground.
According to local media outlets like America TeVe, Hernandez had been scheduled to get married last Friday to his girlfriend of three years.