18 months for pilot in deadly ferry crash

The pilot who passed out at the helm of a Staten Island ferry during a 2003 crash that killed 11 people was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison. The city's former ferry director was sentenced to one year in prison.

Assistant Capt. Richard Smith, 57, apologized to victims' families and recalled how he was too exhausted to have been working that day.

"I will regret for the rest of my life that I did not just call in sick," Smith said. "I was on the wheel. I was responsible. I stand ready to suffer the consequences."

Smith pleaded guilty in 2004 to negligent manslaughter.

The former ferry director, Patrick Ryan, 53, apologized to the families of the victims. "For my part of this, I'm so terribly sorry," he said.

Ryan pleaded guilty to related charges last year, admitting he failed to enforce a rule requiring ferries be operated by two pilots when docking.

A probation official had recommended Smith get three months in prison and Ryan six months, but sentencing guidelines called for as much as 27 months for the captain and 16 months for his supervisor.

Doomed seaplane had cracks in wings

The seaplane that crashed off Miami Beach last month, killing all 20 people aboard, had fatigue cracks in both wings, a preliminary federal report said Monday.

The right wing of the Chalk's Ocean Airways plane separated from the fuselage shortly before the Dec. 19 crash, and investigators had earlier found cracks on the right wing's support beam. But the new report by the National Transportation Safety Board on Monday revealed the left wing had fatigue cracks as well.

The 58-year-old, G-73 Turbine Mallard plummeted into the ocean minutes after taking off for the Bahamas.

The safety board's final report will be completed later this year, spokesman Paul Schlamm said.

Trenton, N.J.

Bill OK'd to suspend prisoner executions

New Jersey lawmakers voted Monday to suspend executions while a task force studies the fairness and costs of imposing the death penalty.

The measure heads to Gov. Richard Codey, who has indicated he will sign it before leaving office next Tuesday.

Under the measure, a 13-member commission would have until November to report on whether the death penalty is fairly imposed and whether alternatives would ensure public safety and address the needs of victims' families.

New Jersey would become the third state behind Illinois and Maryland to suspend executions. Maryland has since lifted its suspension.

There are 10 prisoners on New Jersey's death row. Although capital punishment was reinstated in the state in 1982, the last execution took place in 1963.

Also

Church fire: Fire investigators said Monday that heating torches being used by roofers caused the blaze that destroyed the landmark Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago on Friday.

Cunningham: An attorney for Randall "Duke" Cunningham denied Monday that the former California congressman, who has pleaded guilty to bribery and tax evasion, had worn a concealed microphone to gather evidence against other public officials.

Compiled from The Associated Press