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In U.S. v. Shore, the captain and first mate pled guilty to manslaughter charges resulting from the death of an underage woman on a booze cruise in 2001. After several hours of partying, the vessel's anchor dragged and it collided with a moored sailboat, causing a section of the rail to break.

The first mate motored away, knowing the rail was broken, and a woman fell overboard and drowned. The captain and first mate pled guilty to manslaughter, were sentenced to six months home deten- tion with electronic monitoring, 500 hours of community service, and a $10,000 fine, and were ordered to pay $40,000 in resti- tution.

In U.S. v. Thurston, the chief mate instructed a crewmember on the S.S. Trin- ity to enter and clean a tank that had con- tained MTBE. When the crewmember entered the tank in 2001, he was over- come by fumes and died.

The chief mate was indicted under the

Seaman's Manslaughter Statute, but the first indictment was dismissed by the dis- trict court because it was based on simple negligence rather than gross negligence.

A second indictment was brought charg- ing him with the same violation, but by acting with gross rather than simple negli- gence. The case went to trial and the chief mate was acquitted.

The Staten Island Ferry incident, which occurred in 2003, is the most recent case resulting in convictions under the Sea- man's Manslaughter Statute.

In this case, the Andrew Barberi veered off course and allided with a concrete maintenance pier, killing 11 people and injuring 73 others.

Immediately thereafter, a joint feder- al/state investigation commenced, result- ing in the indictments of the captain, assistant captain (pilot), director of ferry operations, port captain, and the pilot's physician.

The pilot pled guilty to 11 counts of seaman's manslaughter and for making a false statement to the government. He admitted he was overly tired, taking painkillers, and in such pain he was not in the proper physical condition to operate the vessel.

In his license renewal application, the pilot stated he was not on prescription drugs for fear of losing his job. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The director of ferry operations was also charged with 11 counts of manslaughter, as well as obstruction of justice and false statements. The manslaughter charge stemmed from his failure to ensure that the vessel was in the control of a qualified pilot and to enforce the two-pilot rule, which had a long histo- ry in the ferry operations.

The two-pilot rule required that two pilots be in the pilothouse during docking operations.

He pled guilty to one count of manslaughter and was sentenced to one year in prison.

The captain, who was not in the pilot- house at the time of the allision, was indicted for lying to the investigators.

The charge was reportedly dismissed in exchange for his cooperation.

The port captain was indicted for obstruction of justice and making false statements to the government for assert- ing that the two-pilot rule was enforced.

The pilot's physician was indicted for making false statements to the govern- ment by signing a medical form that accompanied the pilot's license renewal application submitted to the Coast Guard, which indicated that the pilot was not tak- ing any prescription medications.

The maritime industry has increasingly been the target of criminal prosecutions for the better part of the past decade, orig- inally (and still) for environmental crimes and now for seaman's manslaughter.

The recent frequent use of the Seaman's

Manslaughter Statute should serve as a wakeup call for companies to take action to avoid becoming a part of this trend.

This includes establishing and effectively implementing a compliance program based not only on regulatory require- ments, but also on other assessed risks.

Jeanne M. Grasso is a Partner in the

Maritime and White Collar Practice

Groups at Blank Rome LLP and focuses her practice on maritime and environ- mental law, including issues confronting facilities, vessels, and cargo owners on an international, federal, and state level.

Her practice commonly includes conduct- ing internal investigations, enforcement defense matters, and compliance counsel- ing on maritime regulatory matters. This article is a condensed and updated ver- sion of an article that appeared last year in Benedict's Maritime Bulletin (Second

Quarter 2005). 18 U.S.C. § 1115.

See, e.g., U.S. v. Warner, 28 F. Cas. 404 (D. Ohio 1848); U.S. v. Farnham, 25 F. Cas. 1042 (S.D.N.Y. 1853); U.S. v. Collyer, 25 F. Cas. 554 (S.D.N.Y. 1855);

U.S. v. Keller, 19 F. 633 (D. W.Va. 1884); U.S. v. Van

Schaick, 134 F. 592 (S.D.N.Y. 1904), aff'd Van Schaick v. U.S., 159 F. 847 (2d Cir. 1908); Hoopengarner v.

U.S., 270 F.2d 465 (6th Cir. 1959); U.S. v. Hilger, 867

F.2d 566 (9th Cir. 1989); and U.S. v. Holmes, 104 F. 884 (N.D. Ohio 1900).

See, e.g., U.S. v. Fei, 225 F.3d 167 (2d Cir. 2000);

U.S. v. Mitlof, 165 F. Supp. 2d 558 (S.D.N.Y. 2001), aff'd

U.S. v. Sheehan, 89 Fed. Appx. 307 (2nd Cir. 2004);

U.S. v. O'Keefe, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1494 (E.D.LA.

Feb. 4, 2004), aff'd Case No. 04-30691 (5th Cir. 2005);

See Sentencing Memorandum of United States in U.S. v. Shore, No. 1:02-cr-10413-RW2-ALL (D. Mass. Sept. 3, 2004); U.S. v. Smith, No. 1:03-CV-06049-ERK-VVP (E.D.N.Y.); and U.S. v. Thurston, 362 F.3d 1319 (11th

Cir. 2004).

Press Release from the United States Attorney's

Office, District of Oregon (January 12, 2006), Fishing

Boat Captain Indicted in Deaths of 3 Passengers.

March, 2006 • MarineNews 17

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