Oregon Public Broadcasting

There may be a lighter sentence in store for a ship captain who was convicted of causing the deaths of some of his passengers.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Richard Oba’s charter fishing boat capsized in big waves off Winchester Bay. Three people drowned.

A year ago, a federal judge sentenced Oba to six years for manslaughter. But this week, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals asked U.S. attorneys in Portland why Oba’s sentence is two years longer than guidelines call for.

Attorneys argued the judge was within his rights to extend the sentence based on Oba’s recklessness. But the appellate judges suggested the guidelines take recklessness into account.

Besides, the appeals panel implied that the lower court did not explain its sentence, as is legally required.

The Ninth Circuit may uphold the six-year sentence, or send it to a lower court for reconsideration.