U.S. Coast Guard vs. Captain Michael James Verdin: After Sexual Battery Conviction and 1 Year of “Hard Labor” in Louisiana Penitentiary, Licensed Captain Given 7 Month Suspension by Coast Guard

New York, NY

By: MLAA

     A 7 month suspension, negotiated while the mariner was doing “hard labor” inside a Louisiana prison after being convicted of Sexual Battery: that was the incredible deal U.S. Coast Guard lawyers and a Coast Guard ALJ Judge gave Captain Michael James Verdin–a U.S. Coast-credentialed merchant mariner and the holder of a Coast Guard-issued masters license. 

     It all began when Captain Verdin was charged with raping a woman in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Prosecutors charged Verdin with felony rape in Louisiana’s 32nd Judicial District Court.

     While Captain Verdin was awaiting trial on the rape charge, the 5 year renewal period for his U.S. Coast Guard merchant mariner credential (MMC) and license arrived, and Captain Verdin submitted his application for renewal to the Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center (NMC). 

     The NMC flagged Captain Verdin’s renewal application after learning that he had been charged with raping a woman in Louisiana. However, according to the Coast Guard Enforcement Report obtained by MLAA through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the NMC approved Verdin’s license renewal application because “At the time of application Captain Verdin had an outstanding charge of Simple Rape [but] because Captain Verdin had not yet been convicted, NMC issued the requested MMC.”

     At that point the Captain was only an accused rapist. And accused rapists may command vessels. While awaiting trial for rape, Verdin continued working as a licensed Captain. Verdin eventually entered into a plea bargain with Louisiana prosecutors in which he pled guilty to the lesser crime of “sexual battery.” Verdin then became a convicted sex predator and was sentenced to “One year of hard labor with the Louisiana Department of Corrections” following his conviction.

     While Captain Verdin was serving his hard time in a Louisiana prison, the U.S. Coast Guard renewed their investigation of Verdin’s suitability to hold a Captain’s license and MMC, and the Coast Guard eventually issued a complaint against Captain Verdin with the U.S. Coast Guard Administrative Law Court seeking to revoke Verdin’s license and MMC. The basis for the revocation sought was 46 USC 7703(2), a “Conviction that would preclude the issuance of MMC.”

    The case was straightforward, and things did not look good for Captain Verdin. He had clearly been convicted of a felony sex crime, the law said he could not hold a MMC, and he was sitting in prison. But then Verdin received a lucky break. The Tulane University Law School Civil Litigation Clinic took up the cause of Captain Verdin and agreed to represent him pro bono in matters before the Coast Guard ALJ Court. 

     According to documents obtained by MLAA, Verdin was represented by two Tulane University law professors: Stacy E. Seicshnaydre and M. Lucia Blacksher. Seicshnaydre and Blacksher served as “supervising attorneys” for several Tulane law students who were participating in Tulane’s Civil Litigation Clinic.

     With Verdin in prison, the Tulane lawyers got to work on his case, and began filing various motions with the ALJ Court. Seicshnaydre and Blacksher and their students then went looking for character witnesses for Captain Verdin, and found one in his former employer, whose name was redacted in the documents MLAA obtained from the Coast Guard. 

     In a sworn affidavit introduced by his Tulane defense team as evidence of Verdin’s suitability to hold a MMC, his former employer stated: 

“Michael J. Verdin is one of the best boat captains I have ever had. He always took good care of his boats and was a very competent and reliable sailor…I am aware that Michael J. Verdin is serving a one-year sentence for sexual battery in Terrebonne Parish. This does not change my opinion of him as a competent, suitable sailor. I would be happy to rehire him when he is released.”

       As the hearing date before a Coast Guard ALJ approached, defense attorney Seicshnaydre filed a motion with the ALJ Court to delay the proceedings for months, because “student interns from the Tulane Legal Clinic would not be available to participate in the presentation of the cause until late summer/early fall.”

     Bruce Tucker Smith, the presiding ALJ, granted the defense’s motion for a delay. This lengthy delay, as well as Smith’s open hostility to the U.S. Coast Guard investigators–prompted by what Smith called an attempt by the prosecution to “provoke” him–appear to have forced Coast Guard prosecutors into settlement negotiations with Verdin’s defense attorneys. 

     An agreement was soon reached. In the Secret Settlement Agreement he signed with Coast Guard prosecutors and that was ultimately approved by Judge Bruce Tucker Smith, “in light of [Captain Verdin’s] cooperate attitude and good faith efforts to reach compliance,” Captain Verdin received “an outright suspension of 7 months to begin on the date the credentials are deposited with the Coast Guard.”

Verdin finished his one year sentence in a Louisiana prison, and upon his release deposited his MMC with the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in Morgan City, Louisiana. 

     Seven months later, Captain Verdin retrieved his license and MMC from the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office and was rehired by his former employer.