Jury: Negligent homicide conviction in Alaska diving death
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - Jurors in Alaska have found a commercial fisherman guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a Kansas diver who died while harvesting sea cucumbers.
The jury on Friday found Joshua Wodyga (woh-DY'-gah) not guilty of manslaughter.
Prosecutors argued that Wodyga's negligence in maintaining an air compressor and air filter led to the death of Levi Adams, 32, of Leawood, Kansas. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning and drowning while he and Wodyga were diving in 2013 in waters off Mountain Point.
Mark Osterman, Wodyga's attorney, contended the death was an accident and partly causes by Adams' inexperience as a diver.
Wodyga was found guilty after the jury deliberated for about three hours on Thursday and about five-and-a-half hours on Friday, Ketchikan Daily News (http://ow.ly/HuzMd ) reported.
Adams' parents and sister attended the weeklong trial in Ketchikan Superior Court. "I think they're glad there's a certain level of accountability," Assistant District Attorney Ben Hofmeister said.
Osterman can appeal the verdict. He said he appreciates the jury but doesn't agree with the verdict.
"There simply was no evidence," Osterman said. "I gotta just keep asking the question: What went wrong with the compressor that my client could do maintenance on?"
The air compressor Wodyga used was marked as not for human use, prosecutors said.
Wodyga faces up to 10 years in prison when he's sentenced in May.
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Information from: Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News, http://www.ketchikandailynews.com