A federal judge in the U.S. Virgin Islands has cleared a Camden charter captain of seaman’s manslaughter in connection to the 2015 death of one of his crew members.
Richard Smith, 65, was on trial this week in St. Thomas for the death of David Pontious, 54, who jumped overboard while on Smith’s vessel. But on Wednesday, Judge Curtis Gomez acquitted Smith of the seaman’s manslaughter charge, according to a clerk at the U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands.
Smith spends summers running charters out of Camden Harbor on his sailing vessel, Cimarron, returning in November to St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, where he and the vessel spend the winter doing sailing charters.
On a trip from Maine to St. Thomas in 2015, Pontious joined the Cimarron crew at a stop in North Carolina and died less than four days later after jumping over the side of the vessel and never resurfacing.
In the days before Pontious’ Oct. 25, 2015, death he became seasick, was acting disoriented and experiencing hallucinations. Pontious allegedly became aggressive, punched Smith in the face and tried to strangle him, according to a investigative summary report from the U.S. Coast Guard filed in court.
When Smith refused to turn the vessel in a direction Pontious requested, he climbed over a wire railing and jumped into the water.
Smith said he was unable to use a radio to call for help because of how far offshore the vessel was at the time Pontious went overboard.
A report of the incident did not happen until the next day, when Smith was able to get in contact with the individual who was giving the crew weather reports Monday through Friday. Smith requested that the individual contact the Coast Guard and gave the location where Pontious jumped off the vessel.
A federal grand jury didn’t indict Smith on the charge until last year, nearly three years after Pontious’ death. Smith was arrested when he arrived in St. Thomas last November.
Prosecutors alleged that as captain of the vessel, Smith did not do enough to rescue Pontious.
A message left for Smith’s attorney was not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.
Information provided by the Associated Press is included in this report.