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Originally Posted by Islander
Below is from the Supreme Court decision denying Dan's appeal.
"The first indictment (#03-S-006) alleged that he negligently caused the death of another by failing to keep a proper lookout while operating a boat, a class B felony."
http://www.nh.gov/judiciary/supreme/...5/littl071.htm
There was testimony at trial, albeit conflicting, that the boat he hit had no white light on. He was convicted anyway.
In my opinion there are quite a few boats out on the lake that are "failing to keep a proper lookout" at night. |
We all know the details of this case although I have never read the actual findings, thank you for posting the link to it. Nobody will deny the outcome or what led up to it. He was most likely drunk but it could not be proven by a test since he was not at the scene. He was not operating at an unsafe speed for the boat or the conditions. He did hit another boat and kill someone. He did leave the scene of the accident and did not offer assistance. Do you think that his innattention was due to the multiple drinks he had before getting behind the helm? Most likely... Do you think this would have looked a lot different if he had not been drinking and did offer assistance? I think so.
"Negligence in criminal cases is different from negligence in civil cases. . . .
In criminal cases, negligence requires proof of more than an ordinary risk, that is of a substantial and unjustifiable risk. In addition, the defendant’s failure to become aware of the risk must be a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would have acted in the same situation."
Had he not been drinking and hit a boat that was not properly illuminated I do not feel that this would have been a gross deviation from how a person would have acted in the same situation. This directly correlates to the kayak incident. The kayak was not illuminated, and as Woodsy stated the visibility of the kayaks in the moonlight would be affected by the direction that the boat was traveling in correlation to the position of the moon in the sky.
To date I have not heard of any charges being filed, or even talk of the possibility of charges so I think that MP has to agree.