The US Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals has upheld the conviction of Jerry Boylan, the captain of the dive boat Conception that caught fire in 2019 and killed 34 people.
A federal jury in November 2023 had found Nolan guilty of criminal negligence, and a US federal judge subsequently sentenced him to four years in prison for seaman’s manslaughter.
The fire was the deadliest maritime disaster in recent US history.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Boylan failed to discharge his duties and neglected safety measures. This resulted in the boat burning down entirely while anchored near Santa Cruz Island off the California coast.
Boylan appealed the conviction, stating the district court misinterpreted the law under which he was found guilty and on March 3, the appeals court upheld the lower court’s decision:
“Boylan argued that the district court’s jury instruction on § 1115 misstated the law, as it provided that guilt could follow if Boylan ‘engaged in misconduct and/or acted with gross negligence.’ According to Boylan, the term ‘misconduct’ permitted the jury to convict him of something less that gross negligence, contrary to what § 1115 requires. Agreeing with the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, the panel held that § 1115 does not require gross negligence, but merely negligence. The panel concluded that, to the extent Boylan argued there was still error because the instruction included the term ‘misconduct,’ any error was harmless because the jury instructions explicitly cautioned against conviction based on a lower standard than negligence; in framing the case, the district court repeatedly instructed the jury that gross negligence was the required standard and the government never argued that mere misconduct was sufficient for conviction; and the overwhelming evidence against Boylan established that the jury would have found him guilty absent the error.”
Read the appeals court’s full decision here.
