California Dive Boat Captain Sentenced To 4 Years For Fire That Killed 34 People
The captain of the California dive boat that caught fire and sank near Santa Barbara, killing 33 passengers and one crew member in 2019, was sentenced Thursday to four years in federal prison.
Jerry Nehl Boylan, 70, was found guilty in November of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer, also known “seaman’s manslaughter,” a charge that carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison. In handing down the lighter sentence, U.S. District Judge George Wu said he found Boylan “incredibly remorseful,” the Los Angeles Times reported, calling it “one of the most difficult sentencings I’ve ever done.”
Boylan was the first to abandon ship and jump overboard after the fire broke out on the Conception, a 75-foot dive boat, in the early hours of Sept. 2, 2019. Four crew members who jumped in the water also survived. All 33 passengers, who were on the vessel for a Labor Day weekend scuba diving excursion, were killed.
The sentencing followed hours of emotional impact statements from people who lost loved ones in the fire, including a woman whose three daughters were killed, along with their father and his wife.
“The torture happens each and every day,” Susana Solano said, according to KABC. “I feel like a failure because I was unable to protect my children from harm.”
“The defendant’s cowardice and repeated failures caused the horrific deaths of 34 people,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “The victims’ families will be forever devastated by this needless tragedy. While today’s sentence cannot fully heal their wounds, we hope that our efforts to hold this defendant criminally accountable brings some measure of healing to the families.”
On the night of the fire in 2019, flamesquickly engulfed the 75-foot boat while the passengers and one crew member were trapped in a windowless bunkroom. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that Boylan’s failure to post a crew member as a required roving watch allowed the fire to spread rapidly while the victims were sleeping, the Ventura County Star reported.
A 24-second video retrieved from the cellphone of Patricia Ann Beitzinger, one of the passengers on the boat, captured some of the last moments of passengers.
“There’s got to be a way out,” a voice is heard saying in the video, which was played during Boylan’s trial, the LA Times reported. “There’s got to be more extinguishers.”
“We’re gonna die,” another passenger said.
The video was recorded at 3:17 a.m., three minutes after Boylan made a radio mayday call and jumped off the boat, prosecutors said.
Boylan’s defense attorneys blamed Glen Fritzler, the owner of the boat company, Truth Aquatics, for a lack of fire training and roving night patrols, KABC reported.
Victims’ families have filed multiple lawsuits against Fritzler, who has denied any wrongdoing.
Boylan was ordered to begin his sentence after a restitution hearing set for July 11.
