Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy

USCG vs. Stinziano: Defense Submits Reply Brief to USCG Commandant. Tedious & Unpersuasive Brief Argues Maersk Captain Should Not have his Captain’s License permanently REVOKED (July 23, 2022).

New York, NY

By: MLAA

     The saga of U.S. Coast Guard vs. Maersk Captain Mark Stinziano (now in its 8th year)–continues.

     On Friday July 23, 2022 Maersk Captain Mark Stinziano’s defense attorney William Hewig, III filed a Reply Brief in response to the Appellate Brief U.S. Coast Guard prosecutors filed on June 17, 2022.

In their Appellate Brief Coast Guard prosecutors sought the permanent revocation of the Maersk Captain’s merchant mariner’s credential and license and sought to overturn the the now-infamous April 20, 2022 (4/20) Decision & Order of predator-protecting judge Michael Devine.

     The Reply Brief Hewig filed with U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Linda L. Fagan on Friday is 52 pages long, and the document goes on and on and on, tediously and unpersuasively defending Devine’s decision and order.

     The appellate briefs of both the prosecution and defense now sit on the desk of Coast Guard leader Linda Fagan, who will work with lawyers at Coast Guard headquarters to craft a final Commandant’s decision on appeal in the case of U.S. Coast Guard vs. Stinziano

     Only time will tell if Stinziano’s Reply Brief is successful, but it can be said with certainty that Stinizano’s attorney William Hewig, III has built a reputation for successfully defending accused maritime sexual predators before the U.S. Coast Guard Administrative Law court. 

     MLAA recently reported on the infamous case of U.S. Coast Guard vs. Samuel Sullivan Irvin, in which the Coast Guard charged mariner Samuel Irvin with 13 counts of misconduct, including 11 counts of shipboard sexual misconduct that included charges of shipboard rape and forcible sodomy. Like Maersk Captain Stinziano, Maersk Chief Mate Samuel Irvin was also represented against the Coast Guard by William Hewig, III.  

     Hewig has achieved remarkable results for his clients who have been accused of raping and molesting men, women, and teenagers onboard cargo ships. Stinziano received only a four month suspension of his license at trial, and in the case of Samuel Irvin, Hewig was able to get a Coast Guard judge to sign off on a secret settlement agreement that allowed allowed Irvin to not only avoid prison, but to also walk away with only a 30 month suspension of his merchant mariner’s license instead of permanent revocation.

Unlike Irvin’s case, which Hewig was able to handle behind closed doors without the public watching, Stinziano’s case has been widely reported on in the maritime media, including by MLAA.

Ten months elapsed from the end of Stinziano’s trial until the USCG ALJ judges, widely viewed as corrupt and lazy, released the decision and order on April 20, 2022.

Only Linda Fagan knows when her highly anticipated decision on appeal in USCG vs. Stinziano will drop.

But MLAA, and many others, are standing-by to react appropriately.

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