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Gyrocopter Pilot Appears In Court; Judge Bans Him From D.C.
mpicpp writes The Florida mail carrier accused of landing a gyrocopter outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday was charged in federal court Thursday and has been barred from returning to the District of Columbia or flying any aircraft, officials said. Douglas Hughes, 61, was charged with violating aircraft registration requirements, a felony, and violating national defense airspace, a misdemeanor. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to three years in prison for the felony and one year in prison for the airspace violation. U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson also barred Hughes from the District of Columbia, except for court appearances, and said he must stay away from the Capitol, White House and nearby areas while he is there. He will also have to hand over his passport.
It's not a "ban" per say, it's a condition of his release pending trial. No different than the Judge telling you that you can't leave your house except for work, must submit to drug testing, or the myriad other requirements that are imposed on people who don't get pre-trial confinement. The alternative to accepting the conditions of release is to go to jail and sit there for a few months while the wheels of justice grind forward.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Not as a final sentence, but you can ban people from a number of things as a condition of bail.
Pilot here. Even though this guy clearly did it intentionally, accidentally violating an airspace in a small plane without sophisticated navigation equipment is easier than you would think. Someone does it every once in a while. Don't get me wrong, it's still a big deal, but not a felony. I wouldn't ever fly near the D.C. area out of fear of doing exactly that. The airspace up there is pretty complicated.
Are you jesting? A judge can ban you from everyplace excepting a 5x8 concrete pad enclosed with iron bars (commonly referred to as a "cell").
In reallity, the Gov't rarely punishes non-violent acts of civil disobediance/protest with anything more than a fine and time served while awaiting trial (days to a few months). For history, look at all the anti-nuke demonstrators who regularly chain themselves to the fences at air force bases. The key here is non-violance. As long as nobody got hurt and there wasn't any real possibility of anybody getting hurt, they will give the guy a small to moderate fine.
If he is not close to retirement, he might get fired from the postal service.
It's "per se", mr smartypants.
But banning him from setting foot in the District of Columbia and talking about YEARS of prison time?
The banishment is part of his conditions of release and will expire whenever the criminal case is concluded. Nothing to see there. As far as "YEARS," well, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines don't have a specific section for this offense, so it falls under the other felony offenses section, which says that 18 U.S. Code 3553 is controlling.
Assuming he has no criminal record, my educated guess would be he stands a decent chance of doing no time. If he gets a prison sentence it will be 366 days, which is SOP is the Federal system because it gives the defendant a chance to earn early release. He'll also be required to forfeit the gyro-copter and any other property used in the commission of the offense, pay court costs, and possibly a fine.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Just last week I read about a psycho woman in Oregon who bashed a guy's skull in with an aluminum baseball bat on their first date, when he went out there to finally visit her in person after a 2 year long online relationship. They only gave her a sentence of a few MONTHS in jail for the incident, despite her planning the whole thing and getting another woman to assist her with it - AND saying she got the idea from something she read or saw that said it only takes 7 pounds of pressure to snap someone's neck. Which person are you more concerned will do people physical harm in the future??
If you're going to cite something like this, you really should provide a link to back up your claims.
http://www.statesmanjournal.co...
She didn't "bash his skull in", she hit him and fractured his skull and caused two lacerations. He was treated and released released from hospital. No mention of a sentence of "a few months" in that article, or any other I could find. The woman in question is being held on $100,000 bail, and appears for an arraignment on April 20.
The Soviets never shot people for looking funny at the Kremlin. Mathias Rust pulled a very similar stunt in 1987. He was sentenced to four years, but released after one year as a sign of political goodwill.