UPDATE: Passenger on Plane Arrested in Madison
UPDATED Friday, October 12, 2012 --- 3:45 p.m.
From the Department of Justice:
Madison, Wis. - John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Mitchell Wilhoit, 32, of Greenville, Tenn., was sentenced today by U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker to three months of unsupervised probation and a $500 fine for assaulting another person on an airplane.
He also spent four days in jail immediately following his arrest.
Wilhoit pleaded guilty to this charge on July 12, 2012.
On August 6, 2011, the defendant was a passenger on a Delta flight scheduled to fly between Minneapolis and Kansas City, but which was diverted to Madison.
While on that flight, Wilhoit refused to obey the flight attendants and was found smoking in the bathroom of the plane. As the plane was taxiing, Wilhoit got out of his seat and walked toward the back of the aircraft. Eventually, a flight attendant had to push him into a seat to get him to sit down.
The charges against Wilhoit were the result of an investigation conducted by the Dane County Sheriff's Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation
The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman.
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Posted: Saturday, August 6, 2011 --- 8:25p.m.
Information from Dane County Sheriff's Office:
A Delta flight from Minneapolis, MN headed to Knoxville, TN was diverted to Madison Saturday afternoon.
31-year-old Mitchell R. Wilnoit, of Tennessee, was reportedly disrupting the flight.
The Dane County Sheriff's Office says he was intoxicated and smoking on the plane.
Wilnoit was taken into custody for disorderly conduct.
The flight did continue on to Knoxville and landed shortly after 8 p.m.
Read Comments
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by Name Location: Location on Oct 13, 2012 at 09:18 AMPaul if you want to smoke and kill yourself thats cool, but what gives you the "right" to put others in harms way with your foolish behaior.[ Report Abuse ]
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by Tooner Location: Location on Oct 12, 2012 at 09:23 PM.....drunk......nice..........[ Report Abuse ]
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by bob Location: madison on Aug 7, 2011 at 10:44 PMpaul, i agree there is a lot of discrimination toward smokers but i do agree it is a pretty bad idea to smoke on a plane because a lot of the other passengers probly dont want to smell the smoke and because of second hand smoke[ Report Abuse ]
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by Oopsie! on Aug 6, 2011 at 09:29 PMWhat a bummer! Now he spends the weekend in jail. Has to pay for a return flight home AND get back here for court proceedings in the future! What a dummy[ Report Abuse ]
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by Paul Brockway on Aug 6, 2011 at 08:58 PMYes, discrimination against smokers has been going on for years. Who says this is a free country? lol.[ Report Abuse ]
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by RS on Aug 7, 2011 at 10:45 PM in reply to Paul BrockwayDiscrimination against smokers??? Give me a break. You want to smoke? Go ahead, but don't infringe on MY right to breath clean air.[ Report Abuse ]
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by Cory Location: Madison, WI on Aug 6, 2011 at 08:42 PMJust out of curiosity, who has jurisdiction over a case like this? The flight originated in Minnesota, was on the way to Tennessee, and landed in Madison only because the passenger became unruly while the flight was in the air. Is it possible, since there's a federal courthouse here in Madison, that this case might end up in federal court, since the man was on a federally regulated airplane (regulated by the FAA)? Thanks![ Report Abuse ]
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