A jury decided Tuesday that a South Florida man did not commit a crime when he allegedly pushed a man off his boat to his death in 2010, The Miami Herald reported.
Eulices Alvarez Barrios, of North Miami, was not guilty of manslaughter by culpable negligence after being accused of pushing 22-year-old Domingo Vilalta off a boat on July 4, 2010, near the Broad Causeway, the newspaper reported.
Vilalta and Barrios, 39, were part of a two-boat party that was celebrating the holiday in Biscayne Bay.
Vilalta was allegedly drunk when he and Barrios got into an argument on the boat before Vilalta was thrown overboard.
Relatives didn't notice Vilalta's body was missing until the boat had cast off, and it took nearly two days for his body to be found.
“This was a tragedy all around, but Eulices committed not crime and he should have never been charged,” defense attorney Ed O'Donnell IV was quoted as saying by the Herald.
Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Chiaka Ihekwaba said Barrios could have put the man in the cabin or tied him up with rope untiil they got to land.
