"He reportedly said to the FA not to leave without him. This and leaving his belongings indicates to me he fully intended to return"
Of course, how silly of me to overlook this statement. No terrorist would lie like that <img src="wink.gif" border="0">
I'm sure many murder victims were told, "relax, I am not going to hurt you" and they believed it too.
The title of the book may therefore be 'inadmissable' evidence , but still not the kind of thing that gives me a warm feeling in the circumstances.
Actually, I am not a lawyer, but I think it works something like this:
If the person leaves, and an off duty cop in the next seat rummages through said persons bags, then finds, lets say a kilo of cocaine. If he says "a-ha! your under arrest", then it is illegal search and seizure and inadmissable.
If in the same instance, a FA looking for a pillow accidently opens said bag and finds the coke, then says to off duty cop, "A-ha! look at this Mr. Policeman. Then the druggie is in trouble. The cop can use the evidence in that case.