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(CN) — The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a jury’s conviction of seaman’s slaughter against the former captain of the M.V. Conception dive boat, on which 34 people perished in a fire in 2019.
A federal judge sentenced 71-year-old Jerry Boylan to four years in prison after a Los Angeles jury found him responsible for the deaths of 34 people who perished in a boat fire on Sep. 2, 2019.
“Despite the obvious dangers that fires pose on ships, Boylan never trained his crew on what to do if one broke out,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge John Owens in a 16-page opinion. “When a crew member asked Boylan when they could discuss safety procedures covered in his employee orientation packet, Boylan chuckled and responded with words to the effect of: ‘When we get to it.’”
The Conception, a 75-foot plywood and fiberglass vessel, was at anchor near one of the Channel Islands in the early morning of Sept. 2, 2019. The boat was on the last stop of a three-day dive trip over Labor Day weekend, and all passengers were asleep in the bunk room below deck when a fire broke out on the main deck at around 3 a.m.
Boylan and four crew members were asleep on the upper deck when the fire started, while a sixth crew member slept in the bunk room with the passengers. The prep cook awoke, noticed the fire and alerted the rest of the crew.
After making a distress call, the captain told the crew to abandon the burning boat even though, as the trial evidence showed, the passengers were still alive below deck. They were found in the following days by rescue divers, with some of them hugging each other in their final moments. A Santa Barbara County coroner determined they had all died from smoke inhalation.
On appeal, Boylan claimed the jury was led astray by an instruction telling them to consider whether he had committed misconduct or gross negligence. Boylan argued the latter standard was all that was needed, and that “misconduct” unlawfully lowered the bar for a guilty verdict. The Ninth Circuit panel found the standard for the offense required mere negligence, which the instructions covered, a decision that falls in line with the Fifth and 11th Circuits.
“Known as seaman’s manslaughter, § 1115 provides that every captain by whose misconduct, negligence or inattention to his duties on a vessel the life of any person is destroyed shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years,” wrote Owens, a Barack Obama appointee. “Nowhere in the text is ‘gross negligence’ required.”
While gross negligence is required for a conviction of involuntary manslaughter, Owens clarified that offense is quite distinct from seaman’s manslaughter.
Owens was joined on the majority opinion by U.S. Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee.
U.S. Circuit Judge Lucy Koh submitted a separate four-page concurrence, disagreeing with the way her colleagues gave weight to the way the lower court framed the case and the prosecutors presented closing arguments.
“We all agree that the alleged error of including ‘misconduct’ in the jury instructions was harmless because the evidence in this case is overwhelming,” wrote Koh, a Joe Biden appointee. “That suffices, and we need not say more.”
Over email, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles applauded the decision.
“We appreciate and agree with the court’s decision today. We hope the ruling brings some measure of healing to the victims’ families,” the spokesperson wrote.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins represented the federal government on appeal.
Boylan was represented by federal public defender Hunter Haney, who did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
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