Y'all sure do like to pick the flysh** out of the pepper. The airspace doesn't matter. The regs don't matter, not a bit. The man made a choice to continue VFR into IMC and it appears he lost control. Now it may well be that a mechanical failure caused the loss of control. Perhaps there was a sudden incapacitation. But barring those things, it's pretty clear he continued VFR into IMC and screwed the pooch. No changing of the regs would prevent this accident, not even a requirement for GPWS because it appears control was lost. It comes down to judgement and experience and you cannot legislate those. The weather conditions on that day were apparently pretty unusual as far as the maritime layer was concerned. But if you are instrument rated you should be able to climb out of it.