PORTLAND, Ore.
AP
—
A former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 whereas driving off-duty in the cockpit is ready to seem for sentencing in federal courtroom Monday.
Joseph Emerson pleaded responsible or no-contest to all prices in opposition to him in September as a part of agreements with state and federal prosecutors. He wished to take accountability for his actions and keep away from additional time behind bars, his legal professional Noah Horst mentioned on the time.
In the federal case, prosecutors have requested for a yr in jail, whereas his attorneys have requested for probation.
Emerson was subdued by the flight crew after attempting to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2023, whereas he was driving in an additional seat in the cockpit. The aircraft was diverted to Portland, the place it landed safely with greater than 80 folks on board.
After his arrest, Emerson told police he was despondent over a pal’s latest loss of life, had taken psychedelic mushrooms about two days earlier, and hadn’t slept in over 40 hours. He has mentioned he believed he was dreaming on the time and that he was attempting to wake himself up by grabbing two crimson handles that might have activated the aircraft’s fireplace suppression system and cut off gasoline to its engines.
Emerson, of Pleasant Hill, California, was charged in federal courtroom with interfering with a flight crew. A state indictment in Oregon individually charged him with 83 counts of endangering one other particular person and one depend of endangering an plane. He was launched from custody pending trial in December 2023, with necessities that he bear psychological well being providers, keep off medicine and alcohol, and avoid plane.
In September, he pleaded responsible to the federal depend and no-contest to the state prices, which carries the identical authorized impact as a responsible plea.
A state courtroom sentenced him to 50 days in jail, with credit score for time served, plus 5 years of probation, 664 hours of group service — eight hours for every particular person he endangered — and over $60,000 in restitution, almost all of it to Alaska Air Group.
Half of his group service can be carried out on the pilot health nonprofit Emerson based after his arrest. He should additionally bear assessments for drug and alcohol and psychological well being therapy, chorus from utilizing any unprescribed medicine, and hold a minimum of 25 toes (7.6 meters) away from operable plane until he has permission from his probation officer.
In their sentencing memo asking for one yr in jail, federal prosecutors wrote: “It was only through the heroic actions of the flight crew, who were able to physically restrain the defendant and restore normal operations of the aircraft, that no lives were lost that day.”
However, a pre-sentence report from federal probation officers really helpful a sentence of time served with three years of supervised launch and 6 months of dwelling detention, in accordance to the sentencing memo submitted by Emerson’s attorneys.
In that memo, his attorneys requested probation with credit score for time served over jail or dwelling detention, arguing that the “robust” state prosecution “resulted in substantial punishment.”
In state courtroom in September, Emerson mentioned he was grateful to the flight crew for restraining him and saving his life, together with these of everybody else on board. He known as it “the greatest gift I ever got,” regardless that he misplaced his profession and wound up in jail, as a result of it pressured him to confront his psychological well being challenges and reliance on alcohol.
“This difficult journey has made me a better father, a better husband, a better member of my community,” he mentioned.
The airline has mentioned that different members of the flight crew had not noticed indicators of impairment that might have barred Emerson from the cockpit.
The averted catastrophe renewed consideration on cockpit safety and the mental fitness of these allowed in them.