KIDS WERE WEARING LIFE VESTS — DEFENSE QUESTIONS WHETHER BAY MARKER WAS UNLIT

New details from the detention hearing in the Barnegat Bay boat crash are putting the condition of a channel marker under renewed scrutiny.

According to court filings, 9-year-old Mya Golabek and 7-year-old Siggy Golabek were wearing life jackets when they entered the water after their grandfather’s boat struck a channel marker on July 19.

The children were later recovered from the dark bay and taken for emergency medical treatment.

DEFENSE CHALLENGES THE LIGHTING

During Wednesday’s hearing, defense attorney William Cunningham said the defense intends to hire private experts to examine whether the large wooden channel marker was properly illuminated that night.

That could become an important issue as the defense challenges the prosecution’s account of what happened before the collision.

If investigators determine that the marker’s navigation light was not functioning properly, the defense could argue that visibility and navigation conditions contributed to the crash.

BUT THE LIGHTING QUESTION DOESN’T END THE CASE.

Prosecutors are also relying on other evidence, including allegations concerning Stephen Schneider’s alcohol consumption and operation of the vessel.

Schneider has been charged in connection with the deaths of his two grandchildren. The prosecution and defense are expected to dispute how much responsibility should be attributed to the alleged impairment, the nighttime conditions and the navigation circumstances.

The defense’s investigation into the marker is therefore only one part of a much larger legal battle.

WERE THE LIFE JACKETS PROPERLY SECURED?

WAS THE CHANNEL MARKER VISIBLE?

AND HOW MUCH DID THE NIGHTTIME CONDITIONS CONTRIBUTE TO THE CRASH?

Those questions could become increasingly important as both sides prepare their evidence.

For now, the allegation that the marker was unlit remains a defense claim requiring further investigation, rather than an established fact.