Case against combative passenger to proceed

The U.S. District Court has junked the request of a Chinese tourist to dismiss the criminal charge filed against him for allegedly assaulting crew members aboard an aircraft that was headed to Saipan last Sept. 11, 2004.

Liu Shijun, who faces a charge of interference with flight crew members and attendants in Saipan’s federal court, claimed that the statute that became the basis for his case is unconstitutionally vague, saying that the law fails to give a person of ordinary intelligence notice that his act is forbidden by it.

Liu claimed he did not know that the United States has special jurisdiction over aircraft flying into the nation or its territories. The alleged assault happened during a China Eastern Airlines flight from Shanghai, China to Saipan.

Chief judge Alex R. Munson said the defendant did not argue for the alleged vagueness of the statute as to the assault, but that he was unaware that the aircraft he was on was headed to the United States and was subject to the nation’s criminal law jurisdiction.

“The ‘contemplated conduct of the forbidden statute’ is not being [on] an airplane within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States; rather, the forbidden conduct is assaulting a crew member or flight attendant with the result that the person’s ability to conduct his or her duties is prevented or lessened,” the judge said.

The judge also denied the request of the defendant for a list of the flight attendants’ duties with which he allegedly interfered when he allegedly assaulted them.

“[The U.S. government] need not identify and prove any specific duty an attendant was prevented or hindered from performing; rather, plaintiff need prove only that a flight attendant’s ability to perform his or her normal duties was prevented or lessened because of the alleged assault by the defendant,” Munson said.

The court earlier set Liu’s trial to begin on Nov. 22.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Bowers formally charged Liu in federal court, accusing Liu that he “unlawfully and knowingly assaulted and intimidated flight crew members and attendants…and interfered with the performance of [their] duties, and lessened their abilities to perform [them].”

The federal prosecutor said the charge lodged against Liu carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.

Earlier reports said the tourist fought with two flight attendants during the flight. Liu reportedly got up from his seat and walked toward the front portion of the aircraft, prompting the flight attendants to ask him where he was going.

Liu allegedly said that he would use the restroom. He became combative when the flight attendants told him to use the lavatories at the aircraft’s rear portion. The attendants attempted to escort him back to his seat but the passenger struggled with them.

According to the FBI, one of the flight attendants sustained a broken nose, while another had bruises and black eye. Commonwealth Ports Authority police personnel took custody of Liu upon the flight’s arrival at the Saipan International Airport.