Difference between revisions of "BOYLAN, Jerry"
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[https://dms.ntsb.gov/public/64000-64499/64213/638769.pdf STATEMENT OF JERRY BOYLAN] | [https://dms.ntsb.gov/public/64000-64499/64213/638769.pdf STATEMENT OF JERRY BOYLAN] | ||
[https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.865646/gov.uscourts.cacd.865646.1.0.pdf United States District Court March 2002 Grand Jury ] | |||
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'''September 20, 2019 [islandpacket.com]:''' “California’s dive boat, Ghost Ship fires share legal lessons. One was a ship in name only, an artist commune set up in an Oakland warehouse. The other was a bona fide boat afloat on the ocean off Santa Barbara. Both became fiery death traps for a combined 70 souls, two of the worst disasters in modern California history. Each has brought a search for blame aimed at finding whether someone was negligent. Getting criminal charges to stick in the 2016 fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse has proven difficult and could provide lessons as investigators decide whether a crime occurred aboard the ''Conception'' scuba diving boat that burned this month. "When you have this type of significant tragedy, it screams out for an investigation of possible involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide," Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson said. But after a jury acquitted one of the Ghost Ship defendants this month and deadlocked on charges against the other, it should give prosecutors pause as they determine whether to charge the ''Conception's'' crew, the boat owners or authorities who inspected the vessel, said Levenson, a former federal prosecutor. The investigation into the Sept. 2 fire aboard the dive boat has yet to shed light on what ignited the fire that killed 34 people trapped below deck in the middle of the night. The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report last week said all six crew members were sleeping when the fire broke out. That would violate Coast Guard regulations requiring a roving night watch and could trigger charges under what's known as the federal seaman's manslaughter statute, which carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison per count if a captain or crew member is convicted of negligence or misconduct. Unintentional deaths in building infernos, crane collapses and nightclub stampedes have often led to manslaughter charges. In California and many other state courts, the charge would likely be involuntary manslaughter. That requires showing someone acted with gross negligence, meaning they didn't use caution and took risks a reasonable person would not have taken under the same circumstances. The little-used boating manslaughter law only requires showing the simple negligence that's required in injury lawsuits, meaning someone should have recognized the risk and acted differently. "It is unusual to have any criminal statute where the intent to be proven is simply that of negligence," said attorney Michael Lipman, who represents Jerry Boylan, the captain of the ''Conception''. He said his client was "emotionally devastated" but declined to discuss the investigation. Federal prosecutors would have a lower standard of proof than the district attorney who tried to convict the leader and a tenant of the Ghost Ship artist enclave of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of 36 people during a Dec. 2, 2016, electronic music show. Derick Almena rented the industrial building and is accused of illegally converting it into an unlicensed entertainment venue and artist live-work space. Max Harris collected rent and scheduled concerts. The pair made the building into a labyrinth loaded with flammable furniture and a rickety stairway that gave little chance for escape, prosecutors said. On the day federal investigators interviewed ''Conception'' crew members, jurors acquitted Harris and deadlocked on charges against Almena. Defense lawyers suggested the Oakland fire, the cause of which was never determined, could have been arson. They argued the city, the fire department and the building's owner shared blame for the disaster. There were no records that the warehouse had been inspected every year as required and that likely would have identified it as illegal housing posing a serious fire risk. Robert Weisberg, a Stanford Law School professor, said it was difficult to know who was in charge at the warehouse and the defense "somewhat plausibly" blamed others. "There is this ugly irony ... that the Ghost Ship was called a ship, but what it was basically was a chaotic patch quilt of businesses, human relations, tenancies, friendships," Weisberg said. "So identifying and imputing responsibility is just incredibly difficult." Pointing a finger in the ''Conception'' case will be easier because of Coast Guard regulations and the ship's clear organizational hierarchy, he said. The NTSB's investigation is aimed at finding why the boat fire happened and how to prevent another one, board member Jennifer Homendy said. After visiting a dive boat just like the ''Conception'', she cited how difficult it was to reach an escape hatch in the bunkroom — a design that has routinely met regulations. While defense attorneys might try to blame insufficient regulations or a shoddy inspection, it wouldn't necessarily absolve the captain or crew, said Carolyn Ramsey, a law professor at the University of Colorado. "It's not a defense if the government inspectors fail to properly find problems with the boat," Ramsey said. "The captain is responsible for keeping the boat in a safe condition and providing . ways of escape and rescue in the case of a fire." The captain also could be criminally liable for crew actions that caused deaths, Ramsey said. Executives of the boat company could be charged if prosecutors can show fraud was involved. In their favor, Coast Guard inspection records show the boat passed its two most recent inspections with no safety violations. Previous customers said Truth Aquatics Inc., which owns the vessel, and the captains of its three boats were safety conscious. But that doesn't necessarily mean the boat was properly maintained and had the needed safety equipment or that passengers got proper safety briefings before setting off Aug. 31 for a three-day excursion. A lawsuit filed recently by a crew member, Ryan Sims, who broke his leg when he jumped from the upper deck to escape the flames, said the boat was unsafe and improperly maintained. "The boat is unseaworthy by nature because it caught fire and sank," Sim's attorney, Kurt Arnold, said Thursday. "Part two is you're always supposed to have someone on watch. ... So once a fire starts for whatever reason that someone can either take action or get everyone off. That didn't happen in this case."” | '''September 20, 2019 [islandpacket.com]:''' “California’s dive boat, Ghost Ship fires share legal lessons. One was a ship in name only, an artist commune set up in an Oakland warehouse. The other was a bona fide boat afloat on the ocean off Santa Barbara. Both became fiery death traps for a combined 70 souls, two of the worst disasters in modern California history. Each has brought a search for blame aimed at finding whether someone was negligent. Getting criminal charges to stick in the 2016 fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse has proven difficult and could provide lessons as investigators decide whether a crime occurred aboard the ''Conception'' scuba diving boat that burned this month. "When you have this type of significant tragedy, it screams out for an investigation of possible involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide," Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson said. But after a jury acquitted one of the Ghost Ship defendants this month and deadlocked on charges against the other, it should give prosecutors pause as they determine whether to charge the ''Conception's'' crew, the boat owners or authorities who inspected the vessel, said Levenson, a former federal prosecutor. The investigation into the Sept. 2 fire aboard the dive boat has yet to shed light on what ignited the fire that killed 34 people trapped below deck in the middle of the night. The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report last week said all six crew members were sleeping when the fire broke out. That would violate Coast Guard regulations requiring a roving night watch and could trigger charges under what's known as the federal seaman's manslaughter statute, which carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison per count if a captain or crew member is convicted of negligence or misconduct. Unintentional deaths in building infernos, crane collapses and nightclub stampedes have often led to manslaughter charges. In California and many other state courts, the charge would likely be involuntary manslaughter. That requires showing someone acted with gross negligence, meaning they didn't use caution and took risks a reasonable person would not have taken under the same circumstances. The little-used boating manslaughter law only requires showing the simple negligence that's required in injury lawsuits, meaning someone should have recognized the risk and acted differently. "It is unusual to have any criminal statute where the intent to be proven is simply that of negligence," said attorney Michael Lipman, who represents Jerry Boylan, the captain of the ''Conception''. He said his client was "emotionally devastated" but declined to discuss the investigation. Federal prosecutors would have a lower standard of proof than the district attorney who tried to convict the leader and a tenant of the Ghost Ship artist enclave of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of 36 people during a Dec. 2, 2016, electronic music show. Derick Almena rented the industrial building and is accused of illegally converting it into an unlicensed entertainment venue and artist live-work space. Max Harris collected rent and scheduled concerts. The pair made the building into a labyrinth loaded with flammable furniture and a rickety stairway that gave little chance for escape, prosecutors said. On the day federal investigators interviewed ''Conception'' crew members, jurors acquitted Harris and deadlocked on charges against Almena. Defense lawyers suggested the Oakland fire, the cause of which was never determined, could have been arson. They argued the city, the fire department and the building's owner shared blame for the disaster. There were no records that the warehouse had been inspected every year as required and that likely would have identified it as illegal housing posing a serious fire risk. Robert Weisberg, a Stanford Law School professor, said it was difficult to know who was in charge at the warehouse and the defense "somewhat plausibly" blamed others. "There is this ugly irony ... that the Ghost Ship was called a ship, but what it was basically was a chaotic patch quilt of businesses, human relations, tenancies, friendships," Weisberg said. "So identifying and imputing responsibility is just incredibly difficult." Pointing a finger in the ''Conception'' case will be easier because of Coast Guard regulations and the ship's clear organizational hierarchy, he said. The NTSB's investigation is aimed at finding why the boat fire happened and how to prevent another one, board member Jennifer Homendy said. After visiting a dive boat just like the ''Conception'', she cited how difficult it was to reach an escape hatch in the bunkroom — a design that has routinely met regulations. While defense attorneys might try to blame insufficient regulations or a shoddy inspection, it wouldn't necessarily absolve the captain or crew, said Carolyn Ramsey, a law professor at the University of Colorado. "It's not a defense if the government inspectors fail to properly find problems with the boat," Ramsey said. "The captain is responsible for keeping the boat in a safe condition and providing . ways of escape and rescue in the case of a fire." The captain also could be criminally liable for crew actions that caused deaths, Ramsey said. Executives of the boat company could be charged if prosecutors can show fraud was involved. In their favor, Coast Guard inspection records show the boat passed its two most recent inspections with no safety violations. Previous customers said Truth Aquatics Inc., which owns the vessel, and the captains of its three boats were safety conscious. But that doesn't necessarily mean the boat was properly maintained and had the needed safety equipment or that passengers got proper safety briefings before setting off Aug. 31 for a three-day excursion. A lawsuit filed recently by a crew member, Ryan Sims, who broke his leg when he jumped from the upper deck to escape the flames, said the boat was unsafe and improperly maintained. "The boat is unseaworthy by nature because it caught fire and sank," Sim's attorney, Kurt Arnold, said Thursday. "Part two is you're always supposed to have someone on watch. ... So once a fire starts for whatever reason that someone can either take action or get everyone off. That didn't happen in this case."” | ||
'''May 3, 2024 [people.com]:''' “The captain of a scuba dive boat that caught fire and sank off the Californian coast in 2019 and killed 34 people has been sentenced. Jerry Boylan, of Santa Barbara, was sentenced by a federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 2, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Per NBC News Boylan was sentenced to four years in prison and three years supervised release for criminal negligence over the incident, which occurred when the scuba boat the ''Conception'' sank in the early hours of Labor Day in 2019. A restitution hearing has been scheduled for July 11, per the release. “The defendant’s cowardice and repeated failures caused the horrific deaths of 34 people,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada, per the U.S. Attorney's release. “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.” “The fate of the victims on the ''Conception'' might have been different were it not for the negligence of the defendant,” added Mehtab Syed, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “I want to commend the collaborative effort by investigators and prosecutors that led to today’s sentence and hope that it delivers a measure of justice to the victims’ families as they continue to heal from this tragedy.” The 70-year-old was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officers — an offense known as “seaman’s manslaughter” — in November 2023, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Per the release, the jury found Boylan “committed a series of failures” in his role as captain of the Conception, including abandoning his ship instead of rescuing passengers. The jury also agreed with prosecutors that Boylan failed to perform any lifesaving or firefighting activities or use the boat’s public address system to warn passengers and crew members about the fire. The 34 people who died — 33 passengers and one crew member — were sleeping below deck of the Santa Barbara-based dive boat and were trapped and killed. Five crew members, including Boylan, survived after jumping overboard and seeking refuge on a nearby boat called the ''Grape Escape''. The boat burned and sank near Santa Cruz Island. | |||
According to the Associated Press, during Boylan’s hearing, family members of the deceased asked U.S. District Judge George Wu to give Boylan the maximum 10-year sentence. “He’s not a victim. He is responsible for my daughter not being here,” Yadira Alvarez, the mother of 16-year-old Berenice Felipe, said. “Can you imagine my pain?” Felipe was the youngest of those killed in the incident, according to the outlet. The outlet also reported that Robert Kurtz — the father of Alexandra Kurtz, the sole crew member who died — brought a small container to the lectern and told Boylan and the court, “This is all I have of my daughter.” “There’s no justice,” Kurtz added, per the Los Angeles Times. “He’s not even being remanded. He’s still free.” During the hearing, Boylan’s attorney read a statement on his behalf saying he has cried every day since the incident, according to NBC News. “I wish I could have brought everyone home safe,” the statement read in part. “I am so sorry.” Wu said he took Boylan’s age, health, the unlikelihood of recurrence and the need for deterrence and punishment into account when determining his sentence. “This is not a situation where the defendant intended to do something bad,” Wu said. Boylan’s appeal is ongoing, according to the outlet. | |||
On March 3, 2026, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Jerry Boylan, the former captain of the ''Conception'' dive boat, for 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter. The court cited "overwhelming" evidence of gross negligence in the 2019 boat fire, rejecting his appeal regarding jury instructions and expert testimony. | |||
Latest revision as of 20:39, 6 March 2026
BOYLAN, Jerry Nehl (b. c. 1954), captain of the Santa Barbara based 75-foot dive boat “Conception” that caught fire in the middle of the night on September 2, 2019, just 20 yards from shore with 34 people trapped below deck with no way to escape. Boylan commanded the “Conception” for many years and is a well-respected and well-admired captain.
The fatal trip was a $665 Labor Day weekend dive trip to the Channel Islands sponsored by Worldwide Diving Adventures. The captain of the ship jumped off and was rescued, it can be heard on US Coast Guard radio communication with the captain. Thirty-four perished, including one crew member.
Boylan said he had been at sea his whole life. His father was a U.S. Coast Guard officer. Jerry began diving at age 5 and has been piloting dive boats for Truth Aquatics since 1985.
NTSB 4.5.1 Captain
- “The 65-year-old captain of the Conception held a valid merchant mariner credential as a master of self-propelled vessels (not including auxiliary sail) of less than 100 gross register tons upon near coastal waters. He had worked for Truth Aquatics since 1984 (with a 3-year hiatus in the late 1990s), starting as a deckhand and then rising to captain in 1985 once he had obtained his 100-ton master’s credential. According to Truth Aquatics and Coast Guard documents, he had captained all three of the company’s vessels, but was primarily assigned to the Conception throughout his 3 decades of employment with the company. Although the company did not complete any type of employee evaluations, the owner told investigators he had never had any concerns with the captain’s performance. The captain was in overall charge of the vessel. Crewmembers, both current and former, told investigators that the captain was the primary operator of the helm and engine controls, turning over to the second captain or first deckhand for designated periods when transiting at night, or for short periods during the day for breaks.”
United States District Court March 2002 Grand Jury
In the News~
September 20, 2019 [islandpacket.com]: “California’s dive boat, Ghost Ship fires share legal lessons. One was a ship in name only, an artist commune set up in an Oakland warehouse. The other was a bona fide boat afloat on the ocean off Santa Barbara. Both became fiery death traps for a combined 70 souls, two of the worst disasters in modern California history. Each has brought a search for blame aimed at finding whether someone was negligent. Getting criminal charges to stick in the 2016 fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse has proven difficult and could provide lessons as investigators decide whether a crime occurred aboard the Conception scuba diving boat that burned this month. "When you have this type of significant tragedy, it screams out for an investigation of possible involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide," Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson said. But after a jury acquitted one of the Ghost Ship defendants this month and deadlocked on charges against the other, it should give prosecutors pause as they determine whether to charge the Conception's crew, the boat owners or authorities who inspected the vessel, said Levenson, a former federal prosecutor. The investigation into the Sept. 2 fire aboard the dive boat has yet to shed light on what ignited the fire that killed 34 people trapped below deck in the middle of the night. The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report last week said all six crew members were sleeping when the fire broke out. That would violate Coast Guard regulations requiring a roving night watch and could trigger charges under what's known as the federal seaman's manslaughter statute, which carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison per count if a captain or crew member is convicted of negligence or misconduct. Unintentional deaths in building infernos, crane collapses and nightclub stampedes have often led to manslaughter charges. In California and many other state courts, the charge would likely be involuntary manslaughter. That requires showing someone acted with gross negligence, meaning they didn't use caution and took risks a reasonable person would not have taken under the same circumstances. The little-used boating manslaughter law only requires showing the simple negligence that's required in injury lawsuits, meaning someone should have recognized the risk and acted differently. "It is unusual to have any criminal statute where the intent to be proven is simply that of negligence," said attorney Michael Lipman, who represents Jerry Boylan, the captain of the Conception. He said his client was "emotionally devastated" but declined to discuss the investigation. Federal prosecutors would have a lower standard of proof than the district attorney who tried to convict the leader and a tenant of the Ghost Ship artist enclave of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of 36 people during a Dec. 2, 2016, electronic music show. Derick Almena rented the industrial building and is accused of illegally converting it into an unlicensed entertainment venue and artist live-work space. Max Harris collected rent and scheduled concerts. The pair made the building into a labyrinth loaded with flammable furniture and a rickety stairway that gave little chance for escape, prosecutors said. On the day federal investigators interviewed Conception crew members, jurors acquitted Harris and deadlocked on charges against Almena. Defense lawyers suggested the Oakland fire, the cause of which was never determined, could have been arson. They argued the city, the fire department and the building's owner shared blame for the disaster. There were no records that the warehouse had been inspected every year as required and that likely would have identified it as illegal housing posing a serious fire risk. Robert Weisberg, a Stanford Law School professor, said it was difficult to know who was in charge at the warehouse and the defense "somewhat plausibly" blamed others. "There is this ugly irony ... that the Ghost Ship was called a ship, but what it was basically was a chaotic patch quilt of businesses, human relations, tenancies, friendships," Weisberg said. "So identifying and imputing responsibility is just incredibly difficult." Pointing a finger in the Conception case will be easier because of Coast Guard regulations and the ship's clear organizational hierarchy, he said. The NTSB's investigation is aimed at finding why the boat fire happened and how to prevent another one, board member Jennifer Homendy said. After visiting a dive boat just like the Conception, she cited how difficult it was to reach an escape hatch in the bunkroom — a design that has routinely met regulations. While defense attorneys might try to blame insufficient regulations or a shoddy inspection, it wouldn't necessarily absolve the captain or crew, said Carolyn Ramsey, a law professor at the University of Colorado. "It's not a defense if the government inspectors fail to properly find problems with the boat," Ramsey said. "The captain is responsible for keeping the boat in a safe condition and providing . ways of escape and rescue in the case of a fire." The captain also could be criminally liable for crew actions that caused deaths, Ramsey said. Executives of the boat company could be charged if prosecutors can show fraud was involved. In their favor, Coast Guard inspection records show the boat passed its two most recent inspections with no safety violations. Previous customers said Truth Aquatics Inc., which owns the vessel, and the captains of its three boats were safety conscious. But that doesn't necessarily mean the boat was properly maintained and had the needed safety equipment or that passengers got proper safety briefings before setting off Aug. 31 for a three-day excursion. A lawsuit filed recently by a crew member, Ryan Sims, who broke his leg when he jumped from the upper deck to escape the flames, said the boat was unsafe and improperly maintained. "The boat is unseaworthy by nature because it caught fire and sank," Sim's attorney, Kurt Arnold, said Thursday. "Part two is you're always supposed to have someone on watch. ... So once a fire starts for whatever reason that someone can either take action or get everyone off. That didn't happen in this case."”
May 3, 2024 [people.com]: “The captain of a scuba dive boat that caught fire and sank off the Californian coast in 2019 and killed 34 people has been sentenced. Jerry Boylan, of Santa Barbara, was sentenced by a federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 2, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Per NBC News Boylan was sentenced to four years in prison and three years supervised release for criminal negligence over the incident, which occurred when the scuba boat the Conception sank in the early hours of Labor Day in 2019. A restitution hearing has been scheduled for July 11, per the release. “The defendant’s cowardice and repeated failures caused the horrific deaths of 34 people,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada, per the U.S. Attorney's release. “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.” “The fate of the victims on the Conception might have been different were it not for the negligence of the defendant,” added Mehtab Syed, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “I want to commend the collaborative effort by investigators and prosecutors that led to today’s sentence and hope that it delivers a measure of justice to the victims’ families as they continue to heal from this tragedy.” The 70-year-old was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officers — an offense known as “seaman’s manslaughter” — in November 2023, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Per the release, the jury found Boylan “committed a series of failures” in his role as captain of the Conception, including abandoning his ship instead of rescuing passengers. The jury also agreed with prosecutors that Boylan failed to perform any lifesaving or firefighting activities or use the boat’s public address system to warn passengers and crew members about the fire. The 34 people who died — 33 passengers and one crew member — were sleeping below deck of the Santa Barbara-based dive boat and were trapped and killed. Five crew members, including Boylan, survived after jumping overboard and seeking refuge on a nearby boat called the Grape Escape. The boat burned and sank near Santa Cruz Island.
According to the Associated Press, during Boylan’s hearing, family members of the deceased asked U.S. District Judge George Wu to give Boylan the maximum 10-year sentence. “He’s not a victim. He is responsible for my daughter not being here,” Yadira Alvarez, the mother of 16-year-old Berenice Felipe, said. “Can you imagine my pain?” Felipe was the youngest of those killed in the incident, according to the outlet. The outlet also reported that Robert Kurtz — the father of Alexandra Kurtz, the sole crew member who died — brought a small container to the lectern and told Boylan and the court, “This is all I have of my daughter.” “There’s no justice,” Kurtz added, per the Los Angeles Times. “He’s not even being remanded. He’s still free.” During the hearing, Boylan’s attorney read a statement on his behalf saying he has cried every day since the incident, according to NBC News. “I wish I could have brought everyone home safe,” the statement read in part. “I am so sorry.” Wu said he took Boylan’s age, health, the unlikelihood of recurrence and the need for deterrence and punishment into account when determining his sentence. “This is not a situation where the defendant intended to do something bad,” Wu said. Boylan’s appeal is ongoing, according to the outlet.
On March 3, 2026, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Jerry Boylan, the former captain of the Conception dive boat, for 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter. The court cited "overwhelming" evidence of gross negligence in the 2019 boat fire, rejecting his appeal regarding jury instructions and expert testimony.
