United States v. Jonathan Petras

879 F.3d 155
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 8, 2018
Docket16-11631
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 879 F.3d 155 (United States v. Jonathan Petras) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Jonathan Petras, 879 F.3d 155 (5th Cir. 2018).

Opinion

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

Jonathan Petras and Wisam Shaker were convicted of interfering with the performance of the duties of a flight crew by intimidation, in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 46504. The defendants appeal on various grounds. Finding no error, we affirm.

I.

Petras and Shaker boarded a flight from San Diego to Chicago. They are Chaldean Christians who were traveling to Chicago with ten other individuals to play in a soccer tournament for Chaldean and Assyrian refugees. 1 The flight had 117 passengers. After an unscheduled layover in Amarillo, the plane made it to Chicago minus Petras, Shaker, and their companions.

The behavior precipitating this case began before the aircraft departed the gate. Flight attendant Victoria Clark testified that Shaker- “angr[il]y told her to “move out of the way” as he was coming down, the aisle. Petras and Shaker then sat in row 20, with their fellow Chaldean soccer players in rows 20 and 21. As the flight attendants were preparing for takeoff and giving safety demonstrations, some members of defendants’ group had their tray tables down, seats'-reclined, and seatbelts unfastened. Clark had to stop her demonstration more than once to request that they put up their seats and tray tables. Shaker was playing loud music and repeatedly refused Clark’s request to turn off the music or use earbuds. Petras also stood up to use the overhead bins after the announcement that, everyone must be seated.

After takeoff, the flight attendants began the in-flight drink service. Clark made her way down the aisle.serving beverages, but she had a hard time hearing the passengers’ drink orders because, as she testi-fled, the Chaldeans were “being loud and obnoxious.” Once again, she asked Shaker to turn off his music,, but Shaker refused. Petras .intervened, telling Clark, ‘You can’t tell us to be quiet.”

Clark then began to take drink orders. One man asked about alcohol, and Shaker demanded some as well by saying, “Bring us some alcohol.” Clark refused, saying she would not serve them alcohol on the flight. She claimed at trial that she was afraid alcohol would escalate the situation because the group was already boisterous and somewhat noncompliant.

Several -members of the group immediately protested Clark’s refusal. Shaker said, “We can have whatever we want.” He started to rise from his seat toward Clark but got caught in his seatbelt. Petras added, “Wé can have whatever the fuck we want, and we’ll do whatever to get what we want.” Petras “slammed” his armrest and tray table up and “lunged” at Clark., Pe-tras was “most of the way” from his seat, and his face “was even” with Clark’s. Clark was afraid of being hurt and hurried away to find flight attendant Jamie Bergen in the front of the: cabin. ,

One of the group then hit the call-button. Flight attendant Leslie Rouch unwittingly came from the back of the aircraft to answer their call. Petras asked her why Clark was' refusing them alcohol. Rouch responded that she did not know and would talk to Clark, but she would not serve them alcohol either. The men immediately protested. Shaker said, “You can’t tell us no ... This is America ... You can’t do that” and rose out of his seat, pointing at her. Rouch told them to “tone it down,” but Petras responded that she was a “racist.” Feeling “stunned,” Rouch walked away and beard Petras again call her a “racist pig” as she left. His tone was “hostile and hateful.”

The pilot was alerted to the situation when she stepped out of the cockpit to use the restroom. She saw that Clark “looked scared,” and after briefly discussing the situation with Clark, she declared a Level 1 Threat, meaning that the plane had passengers who were being verbally assaul-tive. The pilot secured the cockpit and began talking about possibly diverting the plane.

Bergen then decided to try her hand at diffusing the situation. She approached the group and asked them what was going on. But they loudly and aggressively told her that the flight attendants could not deny them and were racist. She thus decided to return to her fellow attendants.

Passenger Tiffany Darge came to the back galley and confirmed that a member of the group called Rouch a “racist pig.” Bergen approached the group again and informed them that a passenger had confirmed that they had used inappropriate language. Shaker again rose out of his seat, saying, “Who was saying that; I want to talk to them.... You can’t talk to me this way. I’m a United States fucking citizen. You won’t disrespect me. Not even my mom disrespects me.” Bergen described Shaker as “lungflng] towards” her and unable to get out of his seat because of his seatbelt; she was “worried about him trying to get a hold of [her].” Again, Bergen returned to the front of the aircraft; at this point, the crew began looking for cities to which divert the flight.

A few minutes later, passenger Darge came to the front of the aircraft. She claimed that some of the group had been “threatening” her, “flipping her off,” and calling her “fucking ugly.” After being informed of this, the pilots made the final decision to divert. The crew did not approach the group again. Bergen asked Clark to stay in the front of the plane “for her own safety,” while Bergen “was shaking” and crying during landing. About 45 minutes later, the plane touched down in Amarillo. Police escorted the men from the plane.

II.

A grand jury charged four men from the group, including Petras and Shaker, with interfering with a flight crew and aiding and abetting, in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 46504 and 18 U.S.C. § 2. Section 46504 provides that any “individual on an aircraft ... who, by assaulting or intimidating a flight crew member or flight attendant of the aircraft, interferes with the performance of the duties of the [crew]” is criminally liable. The prosecution’s theory was that Petras and Shaker, along with their codefendants, intimidated the crew by using profane, aggressive language and menacing conduct that made the attendants fearful for their safety.

Petras and Shaker moved to dismiss the indictment, alleging that it failed to state an offense, was unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, and violated the First Amendment. The district court denied the motions, relying on United States v. Hicks, 980 F.2d 968 (5th Cir. 1992), which interpreted 49 U.S.C. § 1472(j)—the predecessor to § 46504—and found it constitutional. The government moved in limine to prevent the defense from mentioning the defendants’ religious affiliations at trial, fearing the defendants would use their affiliation as part of a group of Christian refugees to generate sympathy; the district court denied that motion.

During voir dire, the prosecution used two preemptory strikes on the only two black veniremen—Jurors 26 and 28.

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Bluebook (online)
879 F.3d 155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jonathan-petras-ca5-2018.