Boating mishap
Sorry ITD, it certainly is not a case of "Sorry people, but if she wasn't impaired by alcohol or another illegal substance, she should be let go and left alone". Alcohol or or drugs would only impact some of the charges she faces -- it's seems likely a crime was committed regardless (manslaughter chief among them).
You simply don't run into an island at relatively high speed at night, in the rain without violating some pretty fundamental boating laws. Can any experienced boater on the lake say with a straight face that this could happen to anyone?? C'mon. Only if you all drive like idiots. I have to travel around 4 miles to get from Sheps to my place on Mink -- often at night. Sometimes when there's no moon, or there's fog or heavy rain. And you know what, you adjust your speed based on the conditions, regardless of how familiar they are with the area. You MUST keep an even more careful watch when visibility is reduced because it's hard enough to see other boats at night in clear moonlit conditions, let alone judge distances well or see things in your path. She should have been going very slow given how bad the conditions were. I remember that night. The skipper has the obligation to maintain a safe watch and to maintain a safe speed for the conditions -- neither seems to have happened here. My bet is the skipper was flying on instruments, relying on a GPS to navigate while blindly going far too fast. Pretty foolish. Someone died as a result. Others were seriously injured (including the skipper herself).
Regardless of her other suffering, she still has to answer the criminal charges and if convicted, receive her just punishment. I'm have some confidence that the courts will take into account her personal suffering and remorse if/when she's convicted/sentenced. I feel sorry for her and all the families affected here -- I truly do. She has quite a burden to carry the rest of her life.
I just hope we all keep in mind how preventable this whole thing was.
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