The captain of the charter boat MV Conception that caught fire during the night and killed 34 people on board near Santa Cruz Island on Labor Day 2019 was sentenced to four years in prison for gross negligence on Thursday.
In the Los Angeles federal courthouse that was packed with relatives of the victims, US District Judge George H. Wu handed down the four year sentence to Jerry Boylan, 70, which will be followed by three years supervised probation with the condition that he participate in mental health treatment. A restitution hearing was scheduled for July 11, at which time, or shortly thereafter, Boylan will begin his sentence. Until then, he remains free on a $75,000 bail bond.
Boylan remained in an almost catatonic state throughout the hearing. He refused to say anything or make eye contact with any of the victim’s relatives, even when one demanded that he do so.
“I cannot make the defendant look at you,” Wu said after it was clear that Boylan was not going to move.
On the night of September 2, 2019, shortly after 3am, the 75-foot (23-meter) dive boat caught fire and eventually sank off the coast of Santa Cruz Island. The boat was anchored overnight at Platts Harbor, a small undeveloped bay on the island's north shore, with 33 passengers and one crew member asleep below decks when the fire broke out. Five crew members, whose sleeping quarters were on the top deck, survived while everyone else on board died.
The cause of the fire has never been officially confirmed, but it’s believed that the likely point of origin was in the aft part of the salon deck and the most likely source was the electrical distribution system. Simply put, the boat was built before a time when paying passengers had iPhones, cameras and a whole host of other electrical devices that all needed charging.
The incident is considered the worst maritime disaster in modern California history. Boylan's sentencing is for a single charged count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer, a pre-Civil War law also known as "seaman's manslaughter."
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded "the probable cause of the accident on board the small passenger vessel Conception was the failure of Truth Aquatics, Inc, to provide effective oversight of its vessel and crewmember operations, including requirements to ensure that a roving patrol was maintained, which allowed a fire of unknown cause to grow, undetected, in the vicinity of the aft salon on the main deck.”
Many of the relatives were angry, some banged their fists on the lectern, some sobbed uncontrollably. Many showed photographs of their loved ones who had been lost, Robert Kurtz, father of the sole deckhand killed, Alexandra Kurtz, brought a small urn containing her ashes.
Some, who weren’t angry, just wanted an appropriate sentence that might set a higher standard in maritime safety. In total, 18 people spoke in an emotional series of addresses that lasted nearly two hours. However, everyone wanted a longer sentence than four years.
CREDIT: Scott Snowden
Following a 15 minute recess, the defense council, led by Georgina Wakefield. Deputy Federal Public Defender, asked if they could read a prepared statement from Boylan.
“For almost five years, I've wanted to send a message to everybody affected by the fire. Because of the advice from my lawyers, I haven't been able to. I know that my words will not change anything. But I hope it might help in some way. I'm not someone who shows a lot of emotion, but I've cried almost every day since September 2, 2019. I offer my deepest condolences to everybody affected by the fire on Conception. By everybody, I mean everybody. The people that died, the crew that barely survived and the families and friends, everyone that was touched by this. Not an hour goes by without me thinking about you. I wish I could have brought everyone home safe. It was my goal and I failed. I am so sorry,” Wakefield read.
Wu remarked that this was among the hardest decisions he’d had to make in his professional career. “This is actually one of the most difficult set of things that I've ever done. And I've been a judge for 30 years in both the state court and federal court,” he said.
Among the victims was Santa Monica resident Charles McIlvain, a visual effects designer who had worked at Netflix, Disney and Sony Pictures. McIlvain, who'd recently celebrated turning 44, had gone diving on the Conception with Marybeth Guiney, a friend who lived in his condo building in Santa Monica. Guiney, 51, was a sales director who had previously worked for the New England Patriots.
Yadira Alvarez, the mother of 16-year-old Berenice Felipe who had dreamed of becoming a marine biologist and was the youngest of the 34 victims killed on the boat sobbed in court and said, "He's not a victim. He is responsible for my daughter not being here. Can you imagine my pain?"
Speaking to gathered media on the steps of the courthouse, Martin Estrada, United States Attorney said, “I want to be very clear that what happened here in this incident was not an accident. This was a criminal act. If this defendant had not failed to take basic basic security measures, those victims would still be with us here today. And all these families behind me would not have to suffer the grief that they have been going through.
“This defendant never accepted responsibility for his actions. But he was convicted. Thankfully, a jury convicted him for his crimes. And today he's been sentenced to four years. And certainly, four years was not what we wanted. We wanted 10 years, we thought the appropriate sentence was 10 years in this case, but the sentence is determined by the judge. We respect that process, the judge determines the sentence, but certainly we thought 10 years is appropriate here," Estrada said.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
