Jury deliberations begin in Miami drinking trial of America West pilots
By Curt Anderson
June 7, 2005
Jurors in the trial of two America West pilots accused of being drunk in the cockpit began deliberations Tuesday after a prosecutor called the defendants "stumbling, fumbling" drunks who put passengers in grave danger.
"Last call to these two defendants meant one more round at 4:15 in the morning, even though they had a flight," said Assistant State Attorney Deisy Rodriguez.
She said pilot Thomas Cloyd and co-pilot Christopher Hughes "demonstrated careless and reckless behavior by getting into that cockpit under the influence of alcohol."
Defense lawyers said testimony showed neither pilot was visibly intoxicated and that they were not in control of the aircraft when airport police ordered it back to the terminal because it was being pushed by a tug at the time.
"Flight doesn't occur until the plane begins to move under it's own power," said Daniel Foodman, Cloyd's attorney. "Nobody was in danger, nobody testified Mr. Cloyd did anything wrong in that cockpit."
After about two hours of deliberation, the six-man jury recessed until Wednesday morning.
Cloyd of Peoria, Ariz., and Hughes of Leander, Texas, face up to five years in state prison if convicted of operating an aircraft while intoxicated, although under sentencing guidelines they would probably get lighter sentences...
...Neither pilot testified. Hughes' attorney, James Rubin, argued that prosecutors had not proven their case and that, even if the pilots had been drinking the night before, they exhibited no signs of drunkenness.
"There was no untoward sign of impairment," Rubin said in closing arguments. "They appeared to be acting in a normal fashion."
Central to the defense is whether the two pilots were legally operating the Airbus 319 jetliner. Rubin urged jurors to remember that the plane was being towed by a tug at the time, with its main engines off and neither pilot able to steer.
Rodriguez, however, cited testimony that both pilots had performed flight checks for 30 minutes before the jet was pushed away from the airport gate. When questioned by police on the day of their arrest, she said both pilots answered "yes" when asked if they had been operating an aircraft.
"They confessed, and they indicated that absolutely they were operating that aircraft," Rodriguez said.
At one point, Rodriguez placed more than a dozen beer mugs on a courtroom table, including seven 34-ounce servings, to show jurors how much the pilots consumed.
"They can't hide that beer," she said.
Cloyd and Hughes were both fired by America West after their arrests and have lost their commercial pilots' licenses.
The state trial came after a lengthy legal battle over jurisdiction. A federal judge agreed with the pilots' claim that they could not be prosecuted under Florida law unless there was loss of life, injury or damage, but that ruling was reversed on appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.