Alvin Lathem

A Louisiana fisherman could face life in prison if convicted of killing a shrimp boat captain in a fight over a life jacket as their boat sank. Alvin Latham was arraigned today on a charge of second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing the boat’s captain as they struggled for the life jacket. He’s being held on $200,000 dollars bond. When Latham was rescued, he told authorities that he and the captain of the Bandit, Raymond Leiker, had prayed together before the boat went down in the Gulf of Mexico the night of July 16. And when Leiker’s foot got tangled in a net, Latham said, he tried to save the man. When he couldn’t, Latham said, he swam for help. He was rescued by another fishing boat this afternoon. Body Holds Clues Leiker, 34, of Port Sulphur, was found Friday. An autopsy found he had suffered stab wounds and blunt-force injuries to his head and arms. “Until we found the body, there was no indication that anything illegal had gone on out there,” said Maj. John Marie. Police confronted Latham, 46, with the evidence Saturday and he admitted inflicting the wounds, Marie said. Sheriff’s Capt. Curtis Bowers said the men were heading into the safety of a bay to escape the squall when the motor was swamped and the boat started taking on water. Inside the shrimp boat’s cabin, the men began fighting over the only life jacket. Leiker grabbed it and headed out, Bowers said. Once outside, a wave knocked Leiker into the sea, Bowers said. The captain apparently had not tied the life jacket around himself and it was lost. Leiker tried to clamber back on board the sinking vessel. Latham has confessed to grabbing a knife and pipe and striking at the captain, who fell back into the sea, Bowers said. “He said he thought the captain was going to come back at him,” Bowers said. “I think things just went way out of hand, with the weather so bad and the boat sinking, they were just fighting for their lives,” Bowers said.