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The Utah Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a boat owner's convictions related to the death of a woman who was hit by his vessel's propeller on Pineview Reservoir.
In a unanimous decision, the court rejected Skyler Shepherd's argument that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of reckless endangerment because he was not driving the boat when Esther Fujimoto was struck, and had not created the risk that she would die.
The court said it agreed with prosecutors that Shepherd — who took the wheel after the 49-year-old woman was hit — created the risk by driving away rather than giving aid as required by law.
Shepherd "could have given the victim a chance to survive simply by calling 911 or providing even the most rudimentary first aid — like getting the victim out of the water and into a horizontal position," the ruling said.
In addition to reckless endangerment, the court upheld Shepherd's 2012 convictions by a 2nd District jury of obstruction of justice and failure to render assistance at an accident. The endangerment and obstruction charges are class A misdemeanors and the failure to render assistance count is a class B misdemeanor.
Shepherd's actions were called "absolutely callous" and "spineless" by Judge Ernie Jones, who sentenced him to the maximum possible punishment of 2½ years in jail.
Shepherd, now 25, was on the water at Pineview Reservoir on Aug. 21, 2011, with friends Colton Raines and Robert Cole Boyer when the boat struck Fujimoto, a University of Utah lab specialist, as she was swimming.
According to trial testimony, Raines was driving the boat at the time but Shepherd took the wheel when they circled back to check on the injured woman. Shepherd told investigators that Fujimoto said she was OK, so they left.
But Chief Medical Examiner Todd Grey testified that the injuries to Fujimoto's lower abdomen and legs from the boat's rotor meant she likely would have been in severe pain. She died soon after a lakeshore resident who heard her screams rowed out to rescue her.
Raines and Boyer were both convicted of misdemeanors in a separate trial. Raines was ordered to serve 2½ years behind bars and Boyer was sentenced to 1 year in jail.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said justice was served with the decision.
"As is the case whenever a life is unnecessarily lost, those on all sides are negatively impacted forever but none more so than the victim and her family," Reyes said in a written statement. "We hope all can find peace in their own way."
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC