What to Know
- If convicted of manslaughter, Lyle could face up to 15 years in prison.
Mexican soap opera actor Pablo Lyle was given a slight break in his probation requirements from a Miami judge as he awaits trial in what prosecutors called a deadly case of road rage.
Lyle appeared in court Thursday morning, where Judge Alan Fine denied a motion from Lyle’s attorneys to allow him to return to Mexico for work. However, the judge modified the house arrest allowing him to go to meetings with his lawyers, make family visits and go to church every day.
Lyle must be in the house where he is staying in Miami from 7 a.m. at 6 p.m., clarified the judge.
The 32-year-old star plead not guilty as prosecutors say Lyle punched 63-year-old Juan Ricardo Hernandez in a road rage confrontation on March 31. He initially faced only a battery charge, but Hernandez later died in a hospital.
If convicted of manslaughter, Lyle could face up to 15 years in prison.
Defense attorney Philip Reizenstein said his client was trying to protect his family when Hernandez assaulted them. He berated prosecutors for filing charges without interviewing Lyle's wife and brother-in-law, who were in the car.
Local
According to Lyle's account detailed in the arrest affidavit, Lyle and his brother-in-law said they feared for their safety after Hernandez got out of his car at a stoplight on March 31 to protest Lyle's brother-in-law cutting him off in traffic. Authorities have not released the name of his brother-in-law.
The affidavit says Hernandez walked up to the driver's side window, pounded on it with an open hand and the driver, Lyle's brother-in-law, got out and said "Don't bang on my window."
The actor traveled back to Mexico after his first arrest on battery charges but then returned to Miami, because he was summoned to court after the death of Hernandez.
Lyle starred in the soap opera "Mi Adorable Maldición," Spanish for "My Lovely Curse." He was a rising star in Mexico, appearing earlier this year in a movie that was successful in the country's box office. He was set to start filming his second film the week he was arrested but was fired from the movie project after his legal troubles.
