Jury to Deliberate in Fatal Coast Guard Crash Case

On March 23, 2011 the Associated Press reported that Jurors were set to resume deliberations Wednesday in the sentencing phase for a Coast Guard petty officer, who piloted a boat involved in a San Diego Bay collision that killed an 8-year-old boy.
After a court-martial at Coast Guard headquarters in Alameda, a seven-member jury on Tuesday acquitted Petty Officer 3rd Class Paul Ramos of involuntary manslaughter and three other charges, but found him guilty of a lesser charge of dereliction of duty for failure to conduct a risk assessment, according to the story.

Additionally, Ramos, 22 years, could face a maximum of three months of confinement for that charge, as stated in the report.  However, the sentencing phase of the proceedings began shortly after the verdict was announced and Jurors began deliberating later in the day, says the A.P.
Some of you might recall the facts including Ramos, piloting a 33-foot patrol craft during San Diego’s annual Christmas Parade in 2009 when it crashed into the boat of Alan DeWeese, whose son, Anthony, was killed.  Five other people also were injured during the incident.

NPR.org posted the following quotes from the victim’s family, “My wife and I are devastated,” Alan DeWeese said outside the courtroom.  “When somebody runs over somebody and kills an innocent bystander, you would think that there would be more than just a dereliction of duty involved.”
During the sentencing hearing, Ramos told jurors he joined the Coast Guard because he loves helping people, and that he lives with “so much remorse” for what happened the night of the fatal collision, according to the A.P.  The story also indicated that the defendant said the following in a statement to the Court, “There is nothing I can do, no matter how hard I try, that can bring Anthony back, or change any part of that fateful evening.”  Ramos’ statement also included this painful plea, “All I can do is ask your forgiveness and, more importantly, the forgiveness of the DeWeese family,” the report revealed.

During the two-week trial, prosecutors said Ramos was driving too fast and failed to follow safety procedures yet the defense maintained he was going at a safe speed and that DeWeese’s boat wasn’t properly lit, according to the story.  Although in the end, Jurors acquitted Ramos of all the other charges he faced, including negligent homicide, aggravated assault and hazarding a vessel, said the A.P.
The most serious charge (involuntary manslaughter) had carried a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in the brig although the penalty was not imposed.  The victim’s family is not pleased as their representative declared the outcome, a “miscarriage of justice.”  Mike Neil, an attorney for the DeWeese family, also said, “It’s a huge disappointment and indictment of how the Coast Guard handles these types of events” via the A.P.

The victim’s family is moving forward with a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit against the government according to their lawyer and believes the dereliction of duty charge could help their case in civil court, the report says.  The National Transportation Safety Board, which has released more than 4,000 pages of documents, has not said what caused the crash.  Finally, Ian Howell (the highest-ranking member of the patrol boat crew) faces a court-martial in May on charges of negligent homicide, assault, negligence with a boat and dereliction of duty and he has pleaded not guilty, according to the story.