Captain sentenced to 4 years in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat in California

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Associated Press, via NPR

NATIONAL
Captain sentenced to 4 years in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat in California

MAY 3, 2024 12:15 AM ET
By The Associated Press



Defendant Jerry Boylan, captain of the Conception, leaves federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Richard Vogel/AP

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in prison and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.

The Sept. 2, 2019, blaze was the deadliest maritime disaster in recent U.S. history, and prompted changes to maritime regulations, congressional reform and several ongoing lawsuits.

Captain Jerry Boylan was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer last year. The charge is a pre-Civil War statute colloquially known as seaman's manslaughter. It was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters.

Family members pleaded with U.S. District Judge George Wu to give Boylan the maximum 10-year sentence in an impassioned hearing. Many cried, and Robert Kurtz, father of the sole deckhand killed, Alexandra Kurtz, brought a small container with him up to the lectern to address Boylan and the court. … "This is all I have of my daughter," he said.

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Read more: https://www.npr.org/2024/05/03/1248858913/captain-sentenced-4-years-conception

[2naSalit]

1. Sounds like a pretty...

Light sentence for the loss of 34 lives.

[Old Crank]

2. I think so also.

But at least he got jail time for the deaths.

[FakeNoose]

5. He's guilty of one count of criminal negligence

It's not the same thing as third degree murder, and that's why it sounds like a light sentence.

I don't get it, he should have been charged with murder. Boylan and 5 crew members abandoned the ship and left 34 people (who were sleeping below deck) to die in the fire. They made no effort to try to help those people get off the boat. How are the crew not guilty of murder?

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/captain-santa-barbara-based-dive-boat-burned-and-sank-resulting-34-deaths-sentenced-4

[Farmer-Rick]

3. The families were NOT happy

They feel the sentence was too light. I expect civil suits will follow.

Seems the captain didn't have the proper firefighting equipment, failed to post a watch and failed to provide firefighting training to crew members.

Now new regulations require smaller passenger vessels to have fire suppression equipment, a watch, training and additional exits.

This is common sense regulation. Capitalism must be regulated. Deregulation was a hoax.

[Miguelito Loveless]

4. Gosh, why so harsh?

It was 34 people?