Christina Elizabeth Szele, a woman who assaulted JetBlue airline employees while intoxicated during a flight last summer, was sentenced to five years of probation on Thursday in U.S. District Court.
The New York woman has already spent four months in a halfway house.
The sentence handed down by Senior Judge John L. Kane also bars her from flying on a commercial aircraft for five years.
Kane urged Szele to clean up her life and said if she violates the terms of her probation, he “was not going to be the least bit sympathetic.”
“If it happens again, you will pay a very heavy price for it,” he said.
Szele decided not to make a statement, but her attorney mentioned that she had written letters of apology to the JetBlue crew.
In November, Szele pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew on the New York to San Francisco flight.
The airplane was diverted to Denver International Airport during the June 17 incident.
Authorities said she became enraged after a flight attendant took matches and a lit cigarette from her.
Szele told an FBI agent that she drank two beers at home and then was served three vodka drinks in flight.
Authorities said flight attendant Paul Whyte took the cigarette away from her and she yelled obscenities and racial epithets at Whyte, who is black.
Szele was restrained, but was able to break out of a pair of flex cuffs. When Whyte attempted to place a second pair of cuffs on Szele, she punched him and said she would find his address and kill him.
An FBI agent testified she also attacked a JetBlue ground-security coordinator who happened to be on the flight and was asked to sit next to Szele.
After her arrest, Szele was allowed to return to New York on pre-trial release, but twice tested positive for cocaine. She also was arrested for misdemeanor assault in Queens, New York and a magistrate judge ordered her back to Colorado.
Kane told Szele that she is going to have to tackle her problems with alcohol and substance abuse.
“It’s something you have to live with, but quite frankly, it’s not something people have to put up with,” he said.
The judge told Szele that her conduct was disturbing and probably made flying a more unpleasant experience for people who already have fears on airplanes.
“It’s not the same as a terrorist with a boxcutter,” he said, “but it does terrorize people on the plane who don’t know if the plane is going to land safely or not.”
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
