Jurisdictional issues could end up casting justice adrift
A high-seas mystery that has launched state and federal investigations could turn into a legal conundrum should authorities seek charges against a man whose mother disappeared — and is presumed dead — after a fishing trip went awry, according to experts.
“When it comes to the law surrounding these types of situations, it is very murky water,” said Martin J. Davies, a renowned admiralty law professor at Tulane Law School. “This is much more difficult than it appears to be.”
Authorities in Middleton, Conn., searched the home of Nathan Carman’s mother, Linda, on Thursday night, police said. Several items were removed in the search on behalf of South Kingstown, R.I., police, who are trying to build an endangerment case against Nathan Carman in the presumed death of his mother, the Hartford Courant reported.
Nathan Carman was found floating on a life raft by a Chinese freighter more than a week after his 31-foot-aluminum boat, named Chicken Pox, was reported missing.
As authorities continue to investigate, they may run into issues regarding jurisdiction and a lack of evidence, according to Davies. Nathan Carman was found alone roughly 100 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard — a place where state law doesn’t apply and federal law requires evidence that could be many leagues under the sea.
“After 12 nautical miles, you are no longer in the United States,” Davies said. “What that means is, to the extent that law is applicable at all, it is the law of where the boat is registered or where the occupants are citizens. That appears to be United States federal law.”
In circumstances where someone is killed outside 12 nautical miles, federal authorities can bring charges so long as the alleged crime occurred within the “special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States,” according to federal law. But those charges are difficult to bring without hard evidence or an eyewitness.
In those situations, state authorities will look to see whether there were any crimes committed on dry land, legal experts say.
Jack Pirozzolo, a former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Massachusetts, added: “When crimes are committed at sea, to the extent that there is insufficient evidence to prove a federal crime, it may be that the only option is a state offense based on conduct that occurred within the state’s jurisdiction.”