LOS ANGELES — A California scuba dive boat captain was found guilty of “seaman’s manslaughter” in the 2019 fire aboard a vessel that killed 34 people.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles confirmed that a federal jury found Jerry Nehl Boylan guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer, The Associated Press reported.
The statute, passed before the Civil War, was called seaman’s manslaughter. According to the Cornell Law School, the law was passed to hold steamboat captains and crew accountable for maritime disasters.
GUILTY - verdict in the manslaughter trial of Conception dive boat Captain Jerry Boylan in deaths of 34 people who perished below deck in a fire on a Labor Day. He jumped off the top deck three minutes before a video captured passengers last words. https://t.co/HCvqPPvH09
— Richard Winton (@LAcrimes) November 7, 2023
Boylan was the only person to face criminal charges connected to the fire, which occurred on Sept. 2, 2019, during Labor Day weekend, the AP reported.
According to federal prosecutors, Boylan was captain of the P/V Conception, a dive boat based in Santa Barbara. The vessel caught fire near Santa Cruz Island, causing the deaths of 33 passengers and a crew member.
He was indicted in December 2020.
The indictment stated that Boylan “was responsible for the safety and security of the vessel, its crew, and its passengers.”
“He was the first to abandon the ship, the first to jump in the water,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Faerstein told jurors in his closing argument on Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported.
One person died while clutching a telephone, and two people were interlocked so tightly that authorities had to pry them apart, according to the newspaper.
Boylan faces up to 10 years in prison, KCAL-TV reported. He is expected to be sentenced on Feb. 8, 2024.
