United States v. Rei

206 F.Supp.2d 132 (2002)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Flight 63 was en route from Paris to Miami until D created a disturbance on board that caused the aircraft to be diverted to Boston. A flight attendant smelled what she thought was a match, and she observed D place a match in his mouth. She alerted the captain, and she saw D light another match. D appeared to be trying to light the inner tongue of his sneaker, from which a wire was protruding. She tried to stop D from lighting his sneaker, but he shoved her into the bulkhead and pushed her to the floor. A second flight attendant tried to stop D. D bit the second attendant on the thumb. The first flight attendant returned and threw water in D's face. Several passengers came to the aid of the flight attendants and restrained D for the duration of the flight. They also injected him with sedatives that were on board the aircraft. D's sneakers contained a homemade bomb. Had the sneakers been placed against the wall of the aircraft and detonated, they might have been able to blow a hole in the fuselage, potentially causing the aircraft to crash. (Actually, all it takes is 4 oz. of semtex to do the job and sneakers can certainly hold more than that. Most likely, the government did not want to reveal how little explosive is required to bring down an airplane). D was charged under section 1993 of the Patriot Act: 'whoever willfully wrecks, derails, sets fire to, or disables a mass transportation vehicle . . . [or] attempts, threatens, or conspires to do any of the aforesaid acts, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.' 18 U.S.C. § 1993(a)(1), (a)(8). D argues that an airplane is neither a 'vehicle' nor engaged in 'mass transportation,' as those words are used in section 1993.