DENVER — A woman charged with punching a flight attendant who tried to stop her from smoking in an airplane will be released to a halfway house.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Thursday a judge magistrate ordered that 35-year-old Christina Elizabeth Szele of Woodside, N.Y. be sent to a halfway house in Colorado. She is expected to be transferred on Friday.
Szele was arrested in June on charges of assault and interfering with a JetBlue flight attendant after the flight was diverted to Denver. She was arrested again Sept. 15 in New York after authorities said she tested positive twice for cocaine and was accused of misdemeanor assault in Queens.
Before her second arrest, the case was set to be transferred to New York but federal prosecutors now want the case to be handled in Colorado.
