A federal jury has found the captain of the dive boat which caught on fire in the Channel Islands in 2019 and killed 34 people criminally negligent.
Jerry Boylan was found guilty of one count of seaman’s manslaughter. He was the captain of the Santa Barbara-based Conception.
The dive boat caught fire in the early morning hours of Labor Day, 2019, as it was anchored off of Santa Cruz Island.
All 33 passengers and one crew member were trapped below deck, and died. A federal investigation was never able to positively identify the cause. But, it was believed to be electrical in nature, possibly from an overloaded electrical circuit.
Prosecutors contended Boylan was negligent because there wasn’t a roving patrol on duty which might have detected the fire before it was too late. He’s could face up to ten years in federal prison when he’s sentenced in February.
