Arguments begin in case of fatal fishing boat sinking

Canadian authorities who want to give American prosecutors evidence in the sinking of a Maine fishing boat will begin arguing their case before a Newfoundland judge Monday.

The U.S. Coast Guard alleges that the Cypriot-flagged tanker Virgo was responsible for a fatal hit-and-run accident at sea last year as it traveled from Boston to Newfoundland.

Three crew members of the Rockland-based trawler Starbound died after their boat sank about 130 miles east of Cape Ann, Mass.

Mark Doughty of Yarmouth, James Sanfilippo of Thomaston and Thomas Frontiero of Gloucester, Mass., died. The captain, Joseph Marcantonio, was the sole survivor.

The ship’s owner said the crew was unaware of a collision.

The evidence at issue could be vital in pursuing manslaughter charges against the Virgo’s captain and two crew members, who are from Russia.

The three men remain free on bail in Canada. They must stay in Newfoundland while lawyers argue the legal issues surrounding evidence and whether the United States has jurisdiction to prosecute the case.

Russian diplomats, meanwhile, have appealed to U.S. and Canadian authorities for the men’s release.

The treaty under which Canada investigates crimes on behalf of another nation requires that a judge decide whether any evidence should be passed on to that government.

Those proceedings began in the spring before the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador. After a lengthy hiatus, the hearing will resume Monday with the start of legal arguments.

The case will recess after a week of arguments and resume again in October.

Lawyers said the complex issues, which involve international maritime agreements and bilateral extradition treaties, could stretch into next year.

And that is only to determine whether the men will face criminal trial in the United States.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the Virgo was on a collision course for 45 minutes before the crash, that the ship’s deck officers weren’t monitoring their radar and that the crew ignored calls for help after the collision.

The Starbound captain’s account, as well as the timing and location of the accident, led investigators to the Virgo, which was docked at a refinery in Come By Chance, Newfoundland.

Canadian officials boarded the vessel, seized documents and found scraped paint on the bow, which matched marks on the Starbound.

Bob Simmonds, a lawyer representing the Russian captain, said that evidence should be disallowed.

Simmonds said the search warrant should be invalidated because Canadian authorities did not have proper authority to search the Virgo and did so based on erroneous information from U.S. authorities.

Simmonds also contends that the United States has no jurisdiction to bring criminal charges. The 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas states that when a collision takes place in international waters, only the home country of the ship or of its crew – in this case Cyprus or Russia – can prosecute a criminal offense, Simmonds said.

Canada could claim jurisdiction because the vessel docked there directly after the incident, according to John Duff, associate research professor and director of the Marine Law Institute at the University of Maine School of Law.