DENVER—The attorney for a woman charged with punching a flight attendant has indicated in a court filing she plans to change her plea to guilty.
Christina Elizabeth Szele (ZELL’-ee) of Woodside, N.Y., is charged with two counts of assault and one count of interfering with a flight attendant.
Prosecutors say she shouted obscenities and racial slurs at a flight attendant who tried to stop her from smoking on a Jet Blue flight from New York to San Francisco on June 17. Prosecutors also say Szele broke the plastic handcuffs used to restrain her and punched a flight attendant.
The pilot diverted the flight to Denver, where she was arrested.
Szele had pleaded not guilty and her trial was scheduled to begin Monday. Her attorney filed a motion in July saying “there will be a disposition by guilty plea.”
The attorney, federal public defender Kathryn J. Stimson, didn’t immediately return a call.
Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Denver, said the case is expected to be transferred to Brooklyn, N.Y., and if Szele does change her plea, it would occur at a hearing there.
A conviction of interfering with a flight attendant carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Conviction of assault carries a maximum 6-month sentence on each count.
