Court rules boater law unconstitutionally vague

SANDPOINT - Criminal charges against a Seattle man who crashed his boat into another vessel on Priest Lake are being dismissed because the state law he was cited under has been ruled unconstitutionally vague.

Todd Frederick Stauber was charged with grossly negligent operation of a vessel, a misdemeanor, after he collided broadside with an anchored cabin cruiser at Luby Bay on July 4, 2012.

A couple aboard the cabin cruiser escaped serious injury, although several people in Stauber's boat were injured and required medical treatment, according to Bonner County marine deputy reports.

Stauber, 38, pleaded not guilty and his defense counsel, Sandpoint attorney Bryce Powell, moved to dismiss the case, arguing that the section of code his client was being prosecuted under was unconstitutionally vague.

The Idaho Safe Boater Act makes it unlawful to operate a vessel in a manner that endangers life, limb or property. However, the statute does not specify what is considered prohibited conduct.

Powell argued during a Jan. 9 hearing that the law is so overbroad that even lawful conduct could be deemed criminal. Powell lashed that argument to a 1958 Idaho Supreme Court case, state v. Pigge.