Court filing
TRIAL BRIEF by USA as to Dustin Sean McCabe — USA v. McCabe (Dkt. 75)
Record facts
| Court | U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida |
|---|---|
| Filed | 2025-03-01 |
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida · No. 9:24-cr-80103-AMC · Doc. 75 · 2025-03-01 · Docket on CourtListener
Summary
A joint proposed jury instruction and special verdict form as to seaman's manslaughter in United States v. Dustin Sean McCabe, Case No. 24-80103-CR-CANNON, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, entered March 1, 2025 as Document 75. The United States and the defendant state that it supersedes their proposals at Docket Entries 54 and 70. The proposed instruction for Count One under 18 U.S.C. § 1115 sets out three elements, naming the M/V SOUTHERN COMFORT, and defines negligence and proximate cause. The proposed verdict form has the jury decide separately whether a loss of life was caused in the defendant's role as a person employed on the vessel or as its owner or charterer. The four-page filing is signed by an Assistant United States Attorney and defense counsel.
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Full text
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
CASE NO. 24-80103-CR-CANNON
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
DUSTIN SEAN McCABE,
Defendant.
___________________________________/
JOINT PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTION AND SPECIAL VERDICT FORM
AS TO SEAMAN’S MANSLAUGHTER
The United States of America and Defendant Dustin Sean McCabe, by and through their
undersigned counsel (collectively, the “Parties”), respectfully submit this Joint Proposed Jury
Instruction and Special Verdict Form as to Seaman’s Manslaughter. This joint proposal supersedes
the proposals the Parties submitted at Docket Entries 54 and 70.
PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTION: SEAMAN’S MANSLAUGHTER
Seaman’s Manslaughter
18 U.S.C. § 1115
Count One charges the Defendant with seaman’s manslaughter. It’s a Federal crime for
a captain, engineer, pilot, or other person employed on a vessel to engage in misconduct,
negligence, or inattention to his duties that proximately causes the loss of a life, or for an owner
or charterer of a vessel to engage in fraud, neglect, connivance, misconduct, or violation of law
that proximately causes the loss of a life.
The Defendant can be found guilty of this crime only if all the following facts are
proved beyond a reasonable doubt:
(1) The Defendant was an owner, charterer, captain, engineer, pilot, or other
person employed on the M/V SOUTHERN COMFORT;
Case 9:24-cr-80103-AMC Document 75 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/01/2025 Page 1 of 4
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(2) A person lost his or her life; and
(3) The Defendant was a captain, engineer, pilot, or other person employed on
the vessel, and a loss of life was proximately caused by the Defendant’s
misconduct, negligence, or inattention to his duties on the vessel;
or
The Defendant was an owner or charterer of the vessel, and a loss of life
was proximately caused by the Defendant’s fraud, neglect, connivance,
misconduct, or violation of law as the owner or charterer of the vessel.1
“Negligence” is a breach of duty, which means an omission to perform some duty, or a
violation of some rule or standard of care, which is made to govern and control one in the
discharge of some duty.
Negligent conduct “proximately causes” a loss of life if the loss of life resulted from the
negligence and it was reasonably foreseeable that the negligent conduct was or could be a threat
to the lives of others.
As you will see in the Verdict Form, when evaluating the third element, you must decide
each of the two subparts separately. First, if you unanimously decide that the Defendant was a
captain, engineer, pilot, or other person employed on the vessel, then you must decide whether a
loss of life was proximately caused by the Defendant’s misconduct, negligence, or inattention
to his duties on the vessel. Second, if you unanimously decide that the Defendant was an owner
or charterer of the vessel, then you must decide whether a loss of life was proximately caused by
the Defendant’s fraud, neglect, connivance, misconduct, or violation of law as the owner or
1 While the Government’s prior submission had “if a person lost his or her life” and “upon which
he was employed” in its third element based on the O’Keefe jury instruction, the proposal here
eliminates that language as surplusage because the first element already specifies that the person
was employed on the vessel and the second element already specifies that the jury must
unanimously find that a person lost his or her life. This edit is an effort to streamline and simplify
the third element.
Case 9:24-cr-80103-AMC Document 75 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/01/2025 Page 2 of 4
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charterer of the vessel.
PROPOSED VERDICT FORM AS TO SEAMAN’S MANSLAUGHTER
We, the Jury, as to Count 1 of the Indictment, unanimously find as to the Defendant
DUSTIN SEAN McCABE:
a. That the Defendant was a captain, engineer, pilot, or other person employed on the vessel
and that a loss of life was proximately caused by the Defendant’s misconduct, negligence,
or inattention to his duties on the vessel.
GUILTY _____
NOT GUILTY _____
b. That the Defendant was an owner or charterer of the vessel and that a loss of life was
proximately caused by the Defendant’s fraud, neglect, connivance, misconduct, or
violation of law.
GUILTY _____
NOT GUILTY _____
CONCLUSION
Based on the authority set forth in the Parties’ submissions, see DE 29; DE 54 at 22-26,
and after conferral and oral argument before the Court, the Parties respectfully request that this
Court instruct the jury and use a special verdict form as proposed herein for Count One.
Case 9:24-cr-80103-AMC Document 75 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/01/2025 Page 3 of 4
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Dated: March 1, 2025
Respectfully submitted,
HAYDEN P. O’BYRNE
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
By:
/ Terrence O’Sullivan
TERRENCE O’SULLIVAN
Attorney for Defendant
Florida Bar No. 0644031
3810 Murrell Road #340
Rockledge, Florida 32955
Tel: (321) 422-2882
Terrence@TerrenceOSullivanLaw.com
/s/ Zachary A. Keller_______
ZACHARY A. KELLER
Assistant United States Attorney
U.S. Attorney’s Office – SDFL
Court ID No. A5502767
99 NE 4th Street, 6th Floor
Miami, Florida 33132
Tel: (305) 961-9196
Email: zachary.keller@usdoj.gov
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I HEREBY CERTIFY that on March 1, 2025, I electronically filed the foregoing document
with the Clerk of the Court using CM/ECF.
/s/ Zachary A. Keller
ZACHARY A. KELLER
Assistant United States Attorney
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