O’Neal Guilty of Negligence but Free of Manslaughter

Griffin O’Neal, son of actor Ryan O’Neal, was cleared today of boat manslaughter in the death of his friend Gian-Carlo Coppola but convicted of negligently operating a boat.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Martin Wolff also acquitted the 22-year-old O’Neal of two charges of reckless boat operation. But because the judge merged three negligent boat operation counts into one and found him guilty on that one count, prosecutors said they were unsure of the maximum penalty.

Coppola, 23, son of movie director Francis Ford Coppola, was killed last Memorial Day on the South River near Annapolis when a boat O’Neal was operating went between two other boats and a towline struck Coppola in the head.

Wolff presided over a three-day, non-jury trial.

Not ‘Terribly Excessive’

The judge said he found no evidence that the defendant was drunk at the time of the accident. He also said he believed that O’Neal operated the boat at an excessive speed, but “I do not find it to be terribly excessive speed.”

The judge said the state did not present sufficient evidence for a manslaughter charge.

“Simple negligence does not equal manslaughter,” Wolff said.

The maximum penalty on the conviction could be up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, depending on how the judge interprets his merger of the three negligence counts, said Robb Cecil, an assistant state’s attorney.

Sentencing was set for Feb. 27.

The misdemeanor manslaughter charge carried a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and five years’ imprisonment.

‘Our Hearts Go Out’

“We’re thrilled,” Ryan O’Neal said of the verdict. “We’re thrilled that we won on five out of six. Our hearts go out to the Coppola family.”

Said his son: “It was an accident. I’m very sorry that it had to happen.”

Wednesday the younger O’Neal took the stand to say he wished he had been the one killed in the accident. (Story, Page 15.)

Defense attorney T. Joseph Touhey contended that O’Neal was not driving the speedboat with “wanton and reckless disregard for human life” when he hit the towrope, and that the accident did not warrant a manslaughter charge.

Prosecutor Gerald Anders argued that a “devil-may-care attitude” by O’Neal prompted him to race between the two boats at excessive speed and then to lie that he was not driving the boat, thereby escaping a sobriety test.