Attorneys spar as AnneMarie Flanigan, owner of boat in deadly Harris Lake incident, appears in court
CHATHAM COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- The owner of a boat involved in a deadly accident on Harris Lake made a court appearance on Wednesday.
AnneMarie Flanigan was the second person charged in connection with Saturday's deadly boating accident that killed 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll and severely injured a Wake County school social worker, Jennifer Stehle.
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Flanigan appeared before a judge in Chatham County. New details about the case were revealed in court, including that Flanigan was on the boat at the time the incident happened.
Authorities said Tuesday that Flanigan was in a relationship with Quinten Kight, the man prosecutors say was under the influence when he drove the boat into a group of swimmers.
Chatham County District Attorney Jeff Nieman noted that the first call that Kight made while in jail was to Flanigan, and that she said in that call that she intended to leave the state and move to Wisconsin this week.
Prosecutors called her a flight risk and asked for bond to be maintained at $500,000.
Flanigan's court-appointed attorney, J.D. Xerri, said that Flanigan planned to travel to Wisconsin to attend her father's funeral, but Nieman countered that in the recorded phone call, she clearly states her intention to move away from North Carolina.
Xerri added that Flanigan is a former Army nurse who served four combat tours and stayed on scene to aid the victims after the accident took place.
"She stayed with the victims to this case, rendering aid to the victims, triaging victims, she rendered aid to the victims in this case until EMS arrived," Xerri said.
The district attorney said she gave investigators a misleading statement that she didn't witness the accident, even though several witnesses placed her on the boat. At least 10 people, including a couple of children, were aboard the boat at the time, and Xerri alleged that "It is entirely plausible in my view that she did not see this thing happen until after it had happened," noting the crowd aboard the vessel.
"The one statement about what happened is patently false, your Honor," Nieman told the judge. "And I say that not only because she admitted at one point herself, at one point she's on the boat, but statements from other people in the boat clearly place her on the boat."
Authorities said they found almost 90 empty alcohol containers either on the boat or outside of it, but it was revealed in court Wednesday that Flanigan was not under the influence when the accident happened.
"She was present for the purchase of the alcohol that was taken on this boat and then consumed on this boat and then contributed to this man's reckless, dangerous and deadly actions," Nieman said.
Judge Sherri Murrell kept her secured bond at $500,000. Her next court date is set for Aug. 20.
"It's hard for me to imagine that over hours out on the lake, that the owner of the boat could be completely unaware of the activities of the driver of the boat," Murrell said.
Flanigan is charged with death while impaired boating and serious injury while impaired boating, as well as aiding and abetting. Those first two counts are the same charges Kight faces, which Nieman said were based on a North Carolina Supreme Court ruling called State v Gibbs, which finds the owner of a vehicle who knowingly allows someone to drive it while under the influence as liable as the driver.
ABC11 learned on Monday that Kight was out of jail on bond from a 2023 hit-and-run case in Moore County.
Neiman alleged that there was precedent for Flanigan aiding Kight. He said Flanigan opened the door for investigators in December 2023 when they found Kight at home after he allegedly hit a motorcyclist with his truck and left the scene.
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