Captain of burning dive boat pleads not guilty in 34 deaths

 

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FILE - The burned hull of the dive boat Conception is brought to the surface by a salvage team off Santa Cruz Island, Calif., Sept. 12, 2019. The dive boat captain pleaded not guilty Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022, in federal court for a second time to manslaughter in the fiery deaths of 34 people trapped below deck on his burning vessel three years ago off the Southern California coast. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A dive boat captain pleaded not guilty in federal court for a second time to manslaughter in the fiery deaths of 34 people trapped below deck on his burning vessel three years ago off Southern California.

A federal grand jury issued a new indictment last month alleging that captain Jerry Boylan acted with gross negligence aboard the Conception during one of the deadliest maritime disasters in recent U.S. history. A judge had thrown out the original case against Boylan on the third anniversary of the Sept. 2, 2019, tragedy.

Boylan made a brief appearance Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, and his trial was scheduled for Dec. 20.

Boylan faces 10 years in prison if convicted of a single count of misconduct or neglect of a ship officer — a pre-Civil War statute known as “seaman’s manslaughter” that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime diseases

All 33 passengers and a crew member who were trapped in the Conception’s bunk room died.

Boylan, who frantically radioed for help after he and four crew members sleeping above deck awoke to the fire, was the first man overboard and then told his crew to abandon ship rather than fight the fire, the indictment said.