Poor judgement on an commercial airplane = 20 yrs in the slammer

[Kirby]

TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- A passenger woke up from a nap, raised his fist and punched out the interior pane of an airplane window on a flight from Las Vegas to Florida, authorities said.

Ryan J. Marchione, 24, shattered the inner plastic shield covering the glass window and disconnected its frame about 90 minutes into the America West flight, according to an FBI affidavit.

The outer window was not damaged and the plane did not depressurize, the airline said.

Marchione was arrested when the plane landed Wednesday at Tampa International Airport.

He faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted of a federal charge of damaging or destroying an aircraft while it was operating.

 

[foomonkey525i]

So, he just woke up and decided to punch something?

 

[Kirby]

According to the article, yup. I didn't post all of it, but towards the end they said that there was "a suspicion of mind altering substances" that might have caused this behavior.

 

[MrElussive]

This seems kind of ridiculous. It was probably just a reflex action from waking up but I wasn't there to see it happen.

 

[CosmosBlack]

Whatever it is, he's not sane. And should be prosecuted coz' he could have endangered innocent lives.

 

[Bmw 325i 7803]

I think they should build more structurally sound airplanes... This guy gets off with probation, trust me...

They're not going to cause a political uproar over laws intended to deter and punish terrorism. I can picture the scrutiny over the judges decision if he handed down a 20 year prison sentence. It's likely going to be reduced to disorderly conduct or an intoxication charge. Any lawyer with half a brain can get this next to junked...