LOS ANGELES (CN) — The captain of the scuba diving boat that went up in flames four years ago off the coast of California, killing all 33 passengers sleeping below deck and a crew member, lost his bid to throw out the criminal case against him ahead of a jury trial next month.
Jerry Boylan's attorneys argued a hearing Thursday that federal agents had coerced witnesses to change their testimony during their investigation of what happened aboard the Conception during the early morning hours of September 2, 2019, while the 75-foot vessel was anchored near Santa Cruz Island.
U.S. District Judge George Wu wasn't persuaded.
"The court is not nearly-as-troubled with the government’s interview practices as defendant and his counsel apparently are, and certainly not to an extent that would call for dismissal of the indictment," Wu said in a tentative ruling ahead of the Los Angeles federal court hearing.
"The government did not coerce anyone into changing answers to any questions. Furthermore, defendant is free to examine any witness who takes the stand about any interactions they had with the Government and its agents, plus whether they felt any coercion in the process."
Boylan, 69, is charged with misconduct or neglect by of a ship officer. He's accused of abandoning his ship, amounting to “misconduct, gross negligence, and inattention to his duties” and leading to the deaths of 34 victims.
Prosecutors spelled out a series of failures, saying Boylan did not secure a night watch or roving patrol on the Conception; conduct sufficient fire drills or crew training; provide firefighting instructions or directions to crew members after the fire started; and use firefighting equipment, including a fire ax and fire extinguisher that were next to him in the wheelhouse, to fight the fire or attempt to rescue trapped passengers.
Instead, the government says, he was the first crew member to abandon the ship, “even though 33 passengers and one crew member were still alive and trapped below deck in the vessel’s bunkroom and in need of assistance to escape.”
Amid the pandemonium of the Conception boat fire, a half-asleep crew stumbled around the upper decks in the early morning hours as the fire ripped through the lower decks where 33 passengers and a crew member slept. All surviving crew members said they were untrained in emergency procedures on the vessel, according to federal investigators in a cache of documents released in 2020.
One crew member told investigators, “I didn’t know what the procedures were supposed to be.”
The LA Times reported last month, citing a confidential report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that the fire started in a plastic trash can on the boat's main deck and spread rapidly. The blaze blocked the exits for the people who were sleeping below deck.
Boylan faces as long as ten years in prison if he's convicted. Trial is scheduled to start on Oct. 24.
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