NEW YORK (AP) – More than two years have passed since John Healy and 10 other passengers died in the horrific crash of the Staten Island ferry. But neither time nor a criminal case have calmed his wife’s outrage.

“This cut short people’s lives,” Kathy Healy said of one of the worst mass-transit disasters in city history. “No one has ever even gotten an apology.”

When the ferry’s pilot and his supervisor are sentenced Monday for their part in the Oct. 15, 2003, incident, Healy may not get much satisfaction.

An internal analysis by a federal probation official has recommended that Assistant Capt. Richard Smith, who passed out at the helm before the ferry slammed into a pier, and co-defendant Patrick Ryan, the highest-ranking city official charged in the wreck, each receive prison terms of less than a year – far below sentencing guidelines.

The decision earlier this month by U.S. District Court Judge Edward R. Korman to make public the pre-sentencing analysis was unusual: Such recommendations are normally kept confidential. Also unusual was its criticism of the defendants’ superiors, including Department of Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall, wife of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“I view the lion’s share of culpability in this case as resting with the higher level management at the ferry service,” wrote the official, Tony Garoppolo.

In another key development scheduled for Monday in Brooklyn court, the judge is set to rule on the city’s request to limit civil claims to a total of $14.4 million. Nearly 200 plaintiffs, including Healy, have sued the city for damages that, without a cap, could reach billions of dollars.

The flurry of courtroom activity stems from a gusty afternoon on New York Harbor, when the Andrew J. Barberi set out on a routine run from lower Manhattan with about 1,500 passengers and Smith alone in the wheelhouse.

As the vessel approached Staten Island, Smith – suffering from extreme fatigue and on painkillers – blacked out. The ship drifted and hit a concrete maintenance pier at full speed, leaving dozens of passengers maimed and injured amid shredded metal and broken glass.

Smith, 57, who fled the accident and tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists, pleaded guilty in 2004 to negligent manslaughter. Ryan, 53, pleaded guilty to related charges last year, admitting that he failed to enforce a rule requiring ferries be operated by two pilots whenever docking.

Of the five defendants charged in the case, four have pleaded guilty.

In the probation report, the probation official recommended reduced prison sentences – three months for Smith and six months for Ryan. Sentencing guidelines call for 21 to 27 months for the captain, and 10 to 16 months for his supervisor.

Garoppolo argued leniency was proper because the accident “and its enormous human toll are much more the consequence of a systematic failure in safety management and procedures at the ferry service, rather than the actions and omissions of (Smith).”

The report concluded the transportation department compromised safety with shoddy oversight. It claimed the head of the ferry service – a top deputy to Weinshall – was completely unqualified, and questioned why he had escaped being charged in the criminal case.

Ryan’s suicide attempt, he added, “speaks to his having a strong conscience, as well as the psychic damage he will continue to endure.”

Lawyers for Smith and Ryan declined comment.

Anthony Bisignano, an attorney for the some of the crash survivors and families of the dead, said his clients are disappointed by the prospect of light terms for Smith and Ryan. But, he added, the report could bolster the civil claim alleging negligence throughout city ranks.

“It points the finger at upper management – something we’ve been saying all along,” he said.

A spokesman for Weinshall defended her record on safety, and questioned the report’s findings.

“After a lengthy investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office, with subpoena and grand jury powers which resulted in indictments and guilty pleas, it is both puzzling and troubling to us that this single probationary officer, who has no such investigative powers, offers his own differing and one-sided conclusions,” said the spokesman, Ted Timbers.

At sentencing, Healy, 44, plans to cut through the legal maneuvering by explaining what it’s like to raise two sons and two daughters, ages 10 to 15, without their father – and without a suitable measure of justice.

“As time goes by, we adjust our lives,” she said. “You learn to move on. But it’s never easy.”