Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard California scuba boat
A federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in prison after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in prison and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
The Sept. 2, 2019, blaze was the deadliest maritime disaster in recent U.S. history, and prompted changes to maritime regulations, congressional reform and several ongoing lawsuits.
Captain Jerry Boylan was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer last year. The charge is a pre-Civil War statute colloquially known as seaman’s manslaughter. It was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters.
Family members pleaded with U.S. District Judge George Wu to give Boylan the maximum 10-year sentence in an impassioned hearing. Many cried, and Robert Kurtz, father of the sole deckhand killed, Alexandra Kurtz, brought a small container with him up to the lectern to address Boylan and the court.
“This is all I have of my daughter,” he said.
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