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Airline jerk learns how 9/11 changed things

The 9th Circuit just handed down an affirmance in US v. Gonzales (pdf here). Facts: shortly after takeoff a passenger got hysterical, demanded that the plane land, paced around, started opening overhead bins and shouted he had a bomb and was going to blow the plane up.

The opinion quotes a flight attendant on the results. Yes, some passengers started screaming "we're all going to die." As for the rest:

"I saw many of our male passengers unbuckle their seatbelts and they stood up and they — I remember seeing the people throwing punches and everybody, you know, they were all on top of Mr. Gonzalez. . . . [Gonzalez] was hysterical and he was swinging and kicking and he was just — he was hitting and kicking passengers and the passengers were trying to take him down and hold him down."

They ultimately tied him up. The 9th Circuit upheld the trial court's decision to enhance the sentence by nine levels, and then max him at 27 months' imprisonment.

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