FL v. Cole Goldberg

The State of Florida charged Cole Preston Goldberg with attempted second-degree murder over what prosecutors said happened in the water at Boca Bash, the massive unsanctioned boat party that takes over Lake Boca Raton every April. According to the State, Goldberg and his girlfriend, Miami talent agent Caroline Schwitzky, argued on a boat on April 24, 2022, and when she tried to leave, he would not let her go. Prosecutors alleged that Schwitzky eventually jumped into the lake to escape, that Goldberg followed her in, and that he grabbed her by the throat and held her underwater while bystanders screamed at him to stop. The State said complete strangers jumped from surrounding boats to pull her free and used a boat hook to keep him from climbing aboard. Those were the allegations. They were what the State set out to prove, not facts the court had accepted.

The trial did not turn on whether an altercation happened. Both sides agreed something occurred on the water. It turned on whether what happened rose to attempted murder under Florida's depraved mind standard, or whether it was something violent that still fell short of that specific legal line. The State built its case on eyewitnesses from multiple boats who described the same scene, backed by bruises photographed at the scene. The defense pushed back hard, questioning what witnesses could really perceive at a crowded, alcohol-soaked event watched from a distance, and casting Schwitzky as a person driven by money and fame who had taken advantage of Goldberg. There was no known video. The case rose or fell on testimony and on how one decision-maker weighed it against the burden of proof.

The case went to a bench trial, no jury, and the judge found Cole Goldberg not guilty. He was acquitted. That is the outcome, and it is the reason we hold every case to the same standard: the State carries the entire burden, and an accused person who forces it to meet that burden is using the system exactly as designed. We do not celebrate a verdict or mourn one. We watch whether the process worked. The full record of our coverage, every trial day and every breakdown, sits below.