Miller v. United States

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW & OPINION

GENE CARTER, District Judge.

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

A. The Voyage of ENDURANCE

Richard Miller and Scott Hilliard became friends while attending college together in the State of Washington. They both enjoyed sailing on the waters of Puget Sound. Miller had spent four years in the Navy on ships, but had no navigational experience, nor any experience in open ocean sailing. The younger Hilliard had taken a correspondence course in celestial navigation. In September of 1977, he crewed on a forty-one foot sailboat that made the crossing from Hawaii to the…