Nearly five years after 34 people died below deck in a fire on the diving boat Conception, the victims' families have yet to receive any restitution and the ship's captain remains free, despite being found guilty in the deadliest maritime disaster in modern California history and sentenced to four years in prison.
U.S. District Court Judge George H. Wu on Thursday delayed ruling on restitution Capt. Jerry Boylan owes to the families of those who died during the 2019 Labor Day holiday on Santa Cruz Island.
Instead, Wu said, he would make a final decision by July 29, when he will also decide whether Boylan, 70, should remain free pending an appeal of his conviction.
Wu gave both sides until July 18 to submit a list of undisputed restitution amounts as well as disputed sums.
Boylan's lawyers have asked that he remain free on bail pending an appeal of his conviction for gross negligence in the disaster. They argue that Boylan has shown he is not a flight risk and that there is substantial doubt about whether he actually caused the 34 deaths.
Prosecutors have demanded his imprisonment, noting that the case has been delayed “again and again” and that he had previously been ordered to surrender by August 8, 2024. They argue that there are “no legitimate grounds for further delays.”
Boylan's conviction last year stemmed from a steamship-era law known as “seaman's manslaughter.”
Prosecutors argued that despite his 34 years as a seagoing vessel captain, Boylan failed to designate a federally mandated night watch on the Conception, which was conducting a weekend diving expedition. He also failed to institute adequate fire safety drills, leaving his crew in a panic when the blaze broke out before dawn on Sept. 2, 2019.
As the flames spread, blocking exits for those crowded into the bunk room below, one of Boylan’s crew twice walked past a 50-foot fire hose held overhead. Boylan called police at 3:14 a.m. before jumping overboard, which prosecutors described as abandoning ship. During Boylan’s sentencing in May, Wu rejected that claim.
Among the 33 passengers and one crew member who died below deck (some while trying to escape) were an environmental scientist who conducted research in Antarctica; a globetrotting couple; a data scientist from Singapore; and a family of three sisters, their father and his wife.
Relatives of victims of the boat fire have sued Truth Aquatics and the U.S. Coast Guard for inadequate oversight.
In sentencing Boylan, Wu said the captain was “incredibly remorseful” and had “not intended to do anything wrong.” He also took into account Boylan’s age and health, as well as the unlikelihood that he would reoffend.
Boylan's attorneys argued that Glen Fritzler, owner of Truth Aquatics Inc., which operated the Conception and two other dive boats, was responsible for the deaths. They argued that Boylan's failure to use a night guard was simply following Truth Aquatics' custom and that he didn't know he was endangering passengers. Prosecutors called it the “blame your boss” defense. Fritzler has denied any wrongdoing.
Following investigations by The Times and the National Transportation Safety Board, the Coast Guard adopted several safety reforms.
