Miller Cleared In Arctic Alaska Case

Francis Miller walked from a federal courtroom yesterday after a jury cleared him of charges that could have put him in prison for years.

And he knew exactly where he was headed.

"Going fishing," Miller said, stopping on the sun-drenched steps of the federal courthouse in Seattle.

Miller, the former chairman of Arctic Alaska Fisheries Corp. and a lifelong fisherman, was charged last year with criminal negligence for the fatal 1990 sinking of the Aleutian Enterprise.

As the court clerk read the not-guilty verdicts, a defense attorney had tears in his eyes, and friends, family and colleagues erupted into shouts and sobs of joy. The courtroom had been packed with Miller's supporters throughout the final days of the trial.

"I always felt I wasn't guilty or I wouldn't have been here (fighting the charges)," Miller said.

A jury member later said many in the jury felt prosecutors had proven that some laws had been broken at Arctic Alaska, but didn't show Miller's role in any illegal plans.

"There just wasn't hard evidence that he knew exactly what was going on," said Paula Chester, an interior designer from Mercer Island who listened to testimony for nearly six weeks.

The jury returned a verdict on the 11-count indictment after less than two days of deliberations.

Not everyone in the courtroom shared the joy. For relatives of those who died, the indictment and subsequent trial offered hope that lost lives could make the industry safer.

Lisa Holley, whose cousin John Dietrich died when the factory-trawler sank, sat in the courtroom taking notes every day of the trial.

"I wanted the jury to know Francis Miller wasn't the only one with a family," she said yesterday.

She had hoped a conviction of Miller would have sent a message of accountability to executives throughout the fishing industry.

"Even if there'd been a conviction, it's not going to bring the nine guys back," she said.

Prosecutors, shocked to silence by the verdict, later said they felt they had to find some accountability for an accident that caused so much reassessment of fishing safety standards and impacted so many lives in the region.

"It was an issue that had to be decided by the community," said Andy Hamilton, an assistant U.S. Attorney. "We wouldn't have been doing our jobs if it didn't go forward."

The Aleutian Enterprise sank March 22, 1990, on a relatively calm Bering Sea. As the crew pulled one last net of fish on board, the 142-foot boat listed left. Water entered trash chutes cut into the hull. Within minutes, the boat sank.

A Coast Guard investigation found several water-tight doors had been removed, survival suits were either poorly maintained or inaccessible, and the boat's general alarm didn't work.

Prosecutors charged that Miller, who'd started fishing a single, 30-foot crabber in 1951, was responsible for running a company bent on sacrificing safety to make more money. They also charged Miller was part of a conspiracy to forge Coast Guard licensing documents and otherwise deceive the Coast Guard.

Arctic Alaska, formed by Miller and two other businessmen in 1983, was the largest fish processing company in the nation. At the time of the accident, the company employed 2,300 people and ran more than 25 boats.

Several company officers pleaded guilty in May to an array of charges, ranging from negligence to lying to federal officials. Four others still face criminal prosecution.

No one had ever intentionally broken the law at Arctic Alaska, Miller said. And he maintained that even those who'd pleaded guilty were innocent.

The government "scared those guys to death," said Miller, who had a personal fortune of millions to pay attorneys' fees.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Porter said yesterday that the government plans to continue its prosecution of other company officers.