Attorney Misconduct, Drinking

Law Student Charged In Drunken 'Naut Guilty' Boating Accident

Which law school does he attend?

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Earlier this summer, we brought you the terrible tale of what happened aboard the “Naut Guilty,” a pleasure boat owned by Benjamin Urbelis, a Massachusetts criminal defense attorney who specializes in operating-under-the-influence cases. Details at the time were murky, but it was clear that a 19-year-old woman jumped overboard and lost her arm after it got caught in the boat’s propeller.

At the time, Urbelis was charged with operating a boat while under the influence causing serious bodily injury, negligent operation of a boat, and operating a motorboat without a legally required identification number. Now that the summer is coming to an end, we’ve got some interesting updates on the case, including allegations that have been made against a law student who was a passenger aboard the doomed vessel.

Thanks to further investigation by the Boston Police Department, it seems that at the time of the amputation accident, Urbelis wasn’t operating the boat — he was actually in the water swimming. Prosecutors have since dropped the charge against him relating to causing serious bodily injury. Urbelis still remains charged with an OUI.

Who, then, was at the helm of the Naut Guilty?

Prosecutors have accused Alexander Williams, who allegedly started the engine on the Naut Guilty, and “negligently moved the boat in the direction of the victim” while she was in the water. Did we mention that Williams is a student at New England Law?

Here are the crimes the law student was charged with, courtesy of the Boston Globe:

Williams appeared in Boston Municipal Court on Wednesday, [June 24, 2015,] to plead not guilty to charges of negligent operation of a boat, destroying evidence on his cellphone before police could search it, and procuring alcohol for several teenagers who were on the boat.

Bail was set at $5,000 cash.

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Prosecutors accuse Williams of erasing texts from his phone just before he handed it over to the police. Apparently the phone was still in “restore factory settings mode” when Williams surrendered it. A police report further claimed that Williams’s lawyer began to yell at him at the time, shouting, “That is the stupidest thing . . . no, no, no!”

Williams worked as a summer intern at Urbelis’s law firm in 2014, and the pair were indicted and arraigned in July. Let’s see how those “naut guilty” pleas work out for them.

One charge dropped against lawyer in boat accident [Boston Globe]
2 men indicted in boat accident that severed woman’s arm [WCVB 5]
2 Men to be Arraigned After Woman Loses Arm in Boating Accident [Charlestown Patch]

Earlier: OUI Lawyer Accused In Drunken Boating Accident After Girl Loses Arm

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