PHILADELPHIA — The trial of engineer Brandon Bostian, at the controls for the fatal derailment of Amtrak train 188 in 2015, is slated to go to the jury today (Friday, March 4) after the prosecution and defense presented closing arguments on Thursday — although the judge indicated skepticism that the evidence supports the prosecution’s case.
Bostian, facing charges of causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless endangerment from the derailment that killed eight people, did not take the stand during the defense’s presentation of its case.
Jurors will be asked to determine if the errors that led Bostian to take the train into a 50-mph curve at 106 mph constitute a crime; the prosecution has characterized the events as gross negligence, while the defense contends Bostian made an honest mistake.
The Associated Press reports Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott said she wasn’t sure the evidence was sufficient to prove the crimes, and that McDermott said she may review the sufficiency of the evidence after the jury returns its verdict.
Interpretation of radio reports that are said to have distracted Bostian — reports of rocks being thrown at other trains in the area — was prominent in both sides’ closing arguments, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Defense attorney Brian McMonagle asked if Boston should be punished for a mistake he did not create, saying the individuals throwing rocks at a commuter train and an Amtrak Acela created the distraction. Prosecuting attorney Christopher Phillips argued Bostian’s training should have prepared him to deal with projectiles being thrown, and that the engineer negligently accelerated past the track’s speed limit despite knowing the risks. The prosecution also called into question whether Bostian did not know where he was prior to the derailment, citing conflicting statements by the engineer at the crash scene and later.
Update: According to local TV stations, the jury quickly returned a verdict of Not Guilty on all of the counts.
Playing the Devils Advocate here. Recently here in Colorado a truck driver lost his breaks coming off the mountains and crashed into a large number of cars stalled on the interstate due to another accident. Four people lost there lives in this incident and the trucker was initially sentenced to 110 years in prison, later commuted to 10 years by the Governor. It is known that he passed at least one emergency truck run off but that could be argued as losing “situational awarenes”. So why should Mr Bostians case be any different.
I find the CO case very interesting. To be convicted of a crime the prosecution needs to convincingly prove criminal intent. I wonder how they did that in this case. Did they show the driver cut his brake lines before coming down the hill???
No Neil. If the prosecution can prove criminal negligence, intent is not needed for a negligent homicide conviction,
Mr. Bostian’s union and the other rail industry unions should politely inform the judge and persecution to drop the charges immediately. Otherwise not one train will ever run again in the U.S. until they are. If government power run amuck goes unchecked and isn’t stopped now, what happened to Mr. Bostian could happen to any one of us for making a tragic mistake.
This is a ridiculous suggestion. Courts of Law determine guilt or innocence not labor unions. The thought that a labor union could hold the country hostage because they don’t like the outcome of a jury trial is something that Putin might come up with.
Guilty or innocent, the man doesn’t deserve prison. I don’t believe in prison for first offenders except for the most series crimes like First Degree Intentional Homicide. Negligent Homicide isn’t enough in my opinion.