Captain's conviction upheld in Conception dive boat tragedy that killed 34
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A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the manslaughter conviction of the captain of the Conception dive boat who was in charge when 34 people died in a fire while trapped below deck over Labor Day weekend in 2019 off the Channel Islands.Jerry Boylan 72, was sentenced to four years in federal prison in May 2024 for his role in the deadliest maritime disaster in modern California history.But Boylan, since his sentencing, has remained free pending the appeal.Boylan had been a captain for 34 years but prosecutors showed that he failed to appoint an overnight roving watch on the night of the fire, ignoring the Certificate of Inspection requirements, which were hanging in his own wheelhouse.
Nor did he institute adequate fire safety drills.Prosecutors argued that this left his poorly trained, panic-stricken crew effectively useless amid the fire, which possibly originated in a trash can sometime after 2:35 a.m.As the flames spread, blocking the exits for those crowded in the bunk room below, a member of Boylan’s crew twice ran right by a 50-foot fire hose overhead, trial evidence showed.
Boylan himself called in a Mayday at 3:14 a.m.and jumped overboard, which prosecutors described as abandoning ship.“I am not surprised that the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld the jury conviction of Jerry Boylan.As I watched the trial unfold I was at times overwhelmed by the blatant disregard Mr.
Boylan and his employers had for the safety of passengers on their vessels,” said Maggie Strom, whose husband, Ted, was among the victims.“The original conviction for seaman’s manslaughter of 34 people was the correct verdict and it has been reaffirmed.
Mr.Boylan has spent the last 6½ years free to live his life with no consequences for his blatant disregard for human life.
It is important that now he is finally held to account.”Clark and Kathleen McIlvain, the parents of...