Denver — A mother accused of slapping and punching her children and intimidating a Frontier Airlines flight attendant remained in custody today after her lawyer requested more time to prepare a case.
Tamera Jo Freeman, 38, is charged with assaulting her children and interfering with flight crew. She appeared in court with her long brown hair tangled in the front wearing a white and grey striped jail uniform.
U.S. District Court Judge Boyd N. Boland was scheduled to oversee her preliminary and detention hearing but it was delayed until Thursday.
A pretrial services report indicated Freeman should be held in a halfway house while she awaits trial, but her lawyer said that she would request a release on bond.
According to an affidavit, Freeman repeatedly struck her 2-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter while drinking alcohol on a flight from San Francisco to Denver on Monday.
Freeman told an FBI agent that she hit the children because they were fighting over a window shade and spilled her drink, the affidavit says.
During the incident on the plane, Freeman also threw a drink toward an flight attendant who tried to intervene, the affidavit says.
The children were placed with family members in California, authorities said.
Her hometown was not disclosed in court records or by authorities.
However, during today’s short hearing attorneys mentioned Freeman had an issue in Hawaii.
Freeman’s attorney, Martha Eskesen, declined to comment about any aspect of her client’s case.
But a search of court records in Hawaii shows a woman with the same name and date of birth was found guilty in May 2005 of abusing a family member and sentenced to 30 days in jail and a year of probation.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-954-1219 or at fcardona@denverpost.com.
