Friends Raise Bail Money for Man Guilty of Boat Crash Deaths

Virl H. Earles, sentenced to three years in prison for the deaths of five people in a boat crash, won his freedom temporarily Friday after his friends--many of them also friends of the victims--raised his bail money by throwing parties.

Earles, who will remain free on bail pending his appeal, said he hoped for at least a year to “help me settle my family.”

Earles, 31, who now lives in Westminster, was the pilot of a 20-foot powerboat that crashed into a concrete mooring buoy in Anaheim Bay near Seal Beach on Oct. 28, 1984. Killed in the crash were three men and two women. Earles and three other passengers were injured.

After the crash, Earles was given a blood-alcohol test that registered slightly above .10%, which is the minimum level that a motorist is presumed to be under the influence in California. The standard, however, does not apply to boaters. Earles had also admitted driving at least five times the 5 m.p.h. speed limit inside the bay when the crash occurred.

Earles had argued that unsafe boating conditions in the harbor caused him to misread the location of the safe boating channel. But prosecutors pointed to his high speed and the fact that the six-seat boat was overloaded.

The first trial ended in a hung jury, but Earles was convicted of manslaughter at a second trial. The jury that convicted him asked for leniency.

But Orange County Superior Court Judge Jean H. Rheinheimer cited Earles’ arrest record over the past 10 years--for speeding, reckless driving and drunk driving--in denying his request for probation. Rheinheimer sentenced him to three years in prison and set bail at $20,000, which meant Earles could remain free pending appeal if he came up with $2,000 for a bail bondsman by Friday, when he was to begin serving his sentence.

Earles said outside court Friday that the money was raised primarily through fund-raisers thrown for him by his friends, including one party that netted about $800. Many of those friends also had known the crash victims.

He has a new job painting yachts, and his new boss also contributed to the bail.

Often downcast during his two trials, Earles was in good spirits Friday.

“It just feels great seeing friends come through to help me,” he said.

He said he has been told that the appeal could take up to a year, and he put his chances of winning at “about 50-50.” But even if he loses, he added, it’s important for him to remain out of prison right now.

For one thing, his wife, Lori, who was in labor in the courtroom the day Earles was sentenced last month, gave birth the next day to a girl. Earles said they have moved into a new house and are fixing it.

Earles also has to undergo surgery in a few weeks for injuries from the boat crash.

Also, Earles said, he has been seeing a psychiatrist regularly “just to help me cope with all that’s happened” and doesn’t want those visits interrupted.

“I should have gone to see her a long time ago,” Earles said.

He said he still believes that he should not be blamed for the accident. He also said the judge should not have used his past record as an argument for giving him a three-year sentence.

“A lot of that stuff was a long time ago,” he said. “I’m not the same person now. Everybody does stuff like that when they’re young. Maybe I did it a little more than others.”

Killed were Anthony Sutton, 27, Ronald Myers, 22, and John Bakos, 22, all of Seal Beach; Kathy Weaver, 24, of Laguna Beach, and Patricia Hulings, 20, of Downey.