The Coconino County attorney's office has decided not to prosecute a Utah lawyer arrested after a Lake Powell boating accident that killed a Flagstaff man.
County Attorney Terry Hance said his office lacked evidence demonstrating negligence on the part of attorney Jean Babilis of Ogden.Babilis, 38, was arrested July 17 after his boat struck and ran over another boat near the Wahweap Marina on the night of July 17.
Brian Schwinghamer, a 47-year-old Flagstaff man on the boat that was struck, disappeared into the water. His body was recovered Aug. 11.
Babilis was released on $20,000 bond after being booked on suspicion of manslaughter.
Investigators working on the case tried to determine whether the boat that was struck had proper lighting, said Deputy County Attorney Terri Steinke.
Babilis and surviving passengers on the struck boat differed on whether the it had lights. Efforts to recover a light that may have fallen off the boat have proven fruitless, Steinke said.
"It's almost impossible to recover anything from the bottom of Lake Powell. It's very deep and very dark," she said. "So without any evidence, we couldn't prove the case."
Babilis' attorney, Brian Florence, said his client was "very pleased.
"We didn't feel the facts ever warranted any charges, but he's still been extremely distressed and depressed that there has been loss of life in an accident he was involved in."
Florence said Babilis is "happy there will be no more pressures from the accident except the emotional ones."
Prosecutors said there was also no indication of excessive speed or that alcohol played a major part in the case, Hance said.
"It was just one of those things where there is not sufficient evidence, which is not to say there wasn't some degree of negligence," he said.