Judge to Issue Duck Boat Dismissal Ruling in March

A Stone County judge will be ruling, in March, on a motion from the lawyers representing three men accused of crimes related to the 2018 Table Rock Lake Duck Boat incident to dismiss all charges.

The story by Jason Wert of the Branson Tri-Lakes News:

Judge Alan Blankenship received a revised motion to dismiss from the defense team and a response to the motion by Stone County Prosecutor Matt Selby during a hearing on Friday, Jan. 28. Court documents state the case “is deemed submitted” and Blankenship will issue a ruling on March 8, at 1 p.m. whether to grant the dismissal.

Stretch Duck Boat 7 sank on Table Rock Lake during a severe storm on July 19, 2018, and 17 people died in the accident.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and the Stone County Prosecutor Selby filed over 60 criminal charges in July 2021 against Duck Boat Captain Kenneth Scott McKee and his two supervisors, Charles Baltzell and Curtis Lanham. Investigators and prosecutors presented a case in early December which claims the men knew severe weather conditions were going to strike the lake, but sent out the Duck Boat tour despite the forecast.

The defense called forensic meteorologist Steven Harned, who outlined the radar service used by Ride The Ducks personnel was “smoothed out” from the raw radar data, meaning none of the men would have known about the wind front which would have struck the lake ahead of the precipitation part of the storm.

The defense attorneys, while arguing for the dismissal of charges, noted the prosecution needed to prove ill intent on the part of the three men and the case presented in their view did not rise to meet the burden of proof.