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The captain of a dive boat that tragically caught fire and sank off the California coast in 2019, resulting in the deaths of 34 individuals, has been sentenced to four years in prison for seaman's manslaughter. Jerry Boylan, aged 70, was convicted of "misconduct or neglect of a ship officer" under a federal homicide statute dating back to the early 1800s.
Federal prosecutors had sought the maximum penalty of 10 years, while Boylan's defense had argued for five years of probation, citing his age and health issues.
Boylan, who had been free on a $75,000 bond following his 10-day trial, was ordered to surrender in July to begin serving his 48-month prison term.
In a brief statement read aloud in court by his attorney before the judge imposed sentence, Boylan expressed his remorse, stating, "It was my goal to bring everyone home safely -- and I failed."
Boylan was the captain of the 75-foot dive boat Conception when the tragic incident occurred. The vessel caught fire in the early morning hours of September 2, 2019, while anchored in Platt's Harbor near Santa Cruz Island, off the Santa Barbara coast, during a recreational scuba trip.
All 33 passengers and one crew member died in the Labor Day weekend blaze. They had been sleeping in a bunk room below deck when the fire began.
The five surviving crew members, including Boylan, had been above deck in berths behind the wheelhouse and escaped by leaping overboard as the burning vessel sank in the Pacific. They told investigators that flames coming from the passenger quarters were too intense to save anyone trapped below.
Media reports have described the blaze as the most lethal modern maritime accident on record in California.
The jury unanimously agreed with prosecutors that Boylan, as charged in the indictment, acted with "reckless disregard for human life by engaging in misconduct, gross negligence, and inattention to his duties." Prosecutors cited several lapses, including Boylan's failure to maintain a night watch or roving patrol as required, conduct sufficient fire drills and crew emergency training, and attempt to fight the blaze or rescue passengers, despite being uninjured.
Prosecutors also noted that Boylan was the first to abandon ship and did so without using the boat's public address system to warn passengers and crew about the fire.
In their defense, Boylan's lawyers placed blame on the vessel's owner for not mandating night patrols or fire training for his fleet's captains or crews.
Boylan's attorneys argued that the flames quickly surrounded their client, and that he remained on the boat long enough to broadcast a distress call to the U.S. Coast Guard, only jumping overboard when he was certain he would not survive otherwise.
While federal investigators were unable to pinpoint the exact cause of the blaze, they determined that it began toward the rear of the main deck where passengers had plugged in cellphones and other devices into lithium-ion battery chargers.
In response to the disaster, the Coast Guard issued a safety bulletin urging limits on such batteries and chargers aboard passenger vessels.