In 2019, a fire close to Santa Barbara resulted in the tragic loss of all 33 passengers aboard a diving boat. On Monday, a federal jury convicted the captain of “seaman’s manslaughter.”
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, along with prosecutors, addressed the media outside the Los Angeles Federal Court following the manslaughter conviction of boat captain Jerry Boylan on Monday.
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In 2019, the captain of a dive boat, the Conception, that caught fire off the coast of Southern California was found guilty of “seaman’s manslaughter” by a federal jury on Monday. The tragic incident resulted in the deaths of all 33 passengers and one of the six crew members. When the fire broke out on the vessel early on the morning of September 2, 2019, the passengers were sleeping below deck. The prosecution argued that Captain Jerry Nehl Boylan and four crew members managed to escape safely but failed to attempt any lifesaving or firefighting actions, despite being uninjured.
Mr. Boylan, who could face up to 10 years in prison, was charged under a 19th-century law established in response to deaths on steamships. He pleaded not guilty, and his public defender, Georgina Wakefield, contended that the boat’s owner was responsible for the accident.
Notably, Mr. Boylan is the sole individual facing criminal charges related to the fire, as reported by The Associated Press. The National Transportation Safety Board disclosed in 2020 that the absence of a required night patrol on the boat and the lack of smoke detectors had hindered the response to the fire and contributed to the high number of casualties. The agency was unable to determine the exact cause of the fire. Mr. Boylan had been indicted by a federal grand jury on 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter that year, but a federal judge in Los Angeles subsequently dismissed the indictment, citing a failure to allege “gross negligence.”
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