NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) - A Gloucester power boat operator
facing a homicide charge in connection with a fatal collision off
the Massachusetts coast is scheduled to face trial this week.

Fred Bevins III faces a charge of boat homicide by negligent
operation when his trial starts Thursday in New Bedford District
Court.

Prosecutors have said Bevins was skippering a 63-foot power boat that struck a 35-foot-sailboat on Buzzards Bay last July, killing David Walsh of Dartmouth. Walsh's sailing partner was hurt.

Bevins has said he was resetting his global positioning system
just before the crash. But investigators determined that Walsh's
boat had the right of way under international navigation rules.

If convicted of the misdemeanor, Bevins faces up to 30 months in jail.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)