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Two American West Pilots Accused of Trying to Fly High

Aired September 30, 2002 - 14:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Two American West pilots accused of trying to fly high are back in court today in Miami. That's where we find CNN's Mark Potter for the latest.
Hi, Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, that hearing ended about a half hour ago. The Former America West pilots, Thomas Cloyd and Christopher Hughes were there with their attorneys before a Judge David Young.

The hearing didn't last very long, but some news was made. First of all the prosecutors announced new charges would be filed against the men, a charge of culpable negligence. That in addition to main charge they already face of operating an aircraft while intoxicated.

As they did with that original charge today, they both pleaded not guilty to the culpable negligence charge.

It was also announced that the original trial date of October 21st has now been pushed back a little bit, to November 4th. That may slide too, but right now, it's November 4th, and it has always been announced by the prosecutor that there were some negotiations under way to discuss a possible plea deal in this case. But he says that it appears that those talks have broken down, and that there will be no plea deal, and that indeed this will go to trial, which leads to the next topic, some motions filed by the defense. They are going to be heard on October 23. These are pretrial motions.

One of them asks that charge of operating aircraft while intoxicated be thrown out on the grounds that at the time that they were stopped, which led to their arrest the pilots were not actually operating the aircraft. The defense argues that the aircraft was being pushed back from the terminal, by a tug, the steering mechanisms were shut down, and the prosecutor is going to oppose that. One other motion that this case be taken from state to federal court. Once again, the prosecutor will argue against that, too, on October 23rd.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Now, Mark, what about the point that Cloyd and Hughes seem to have gotten into rehab pretty quickly. Would that have any bearing on this hearing, or impact on this hearing?

POTTER: It might, and it's certainly a good move on the part of the defense, not to say that they didn't mean to do it that they were not serious; but that always looks good, if they go into rehab before going to trial, it makes it easier at sentencing to say you are trying to turn your life around. Again, I'm not diminishing what they did, but you often see this in cases like this, and it certainly is a point that will be made by the defense if they need to use it.

PHILLIPS: Can you tell us a little bit more about the evidence that we have here. I was reading that there are breathalyzer tests, there's a bar bill, there's some video from the bar. How is all this going to play out?

POTTER: Well, this is clearly a prosecutor's case. The prosecutor told me today, this -- he has never seen case like this, where he had so much evidence to play with. There are the breathalyzer results, that show that they are over the legal limit in Florida. There is videotape of them at the security counter, arguing with the officials there. There is also security that was -- a tape that was taken at the bar, where they were shown out at night. There is evidence of how much they paid for the alcohol, around $140. It doesn't show who drank what, but it shows big bar bill. There is evidence of when they came back to their hotel room early in morning, timeline of five hours of or so later when they tried to fly aircraft.

This is clearly a prosecutor's case, definitely an uphill battle for the defense.

PHILLIPS: Mark Potter in Miami. Thanks, Mark.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 30, 2002 - 14:25   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Two American West pilots accused of trying to fly high are back in court today in Miami. That's where we find CNN's Mark Potter for the latest.
Hi, Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, that hearing ended about a half hour ago. The Former America West pilots, Thomas Cloyd and Christopher Hughes were there with their attorneys before a Judge David Young.

The hearing didn't last very long, but some news was made. First of all the prosecutors announced new charges would be filed against the men, a charge of culpable negligence. That in addition to main charge they already face of operating an aircraft while intoxicated.

As they did with that original charge today, they both pleaded not guilty to the culpable negligence charge.

It was also announced that the original trial date of October 21st has now been pushed back a little bit, to November 4th. That may slide too, but right now, it's November 4th, and it has always been announced by the prosecutor that there were some negotiations under way to discuss a possible plea deal in this case. But he says that it appears that those talks have broken down, and that there will be no plea deal, and that indeed this will go to trial, which leads to the next topic, some motions filed by the defense. They are going to be heard on October 23. These are pretrial motions.

One of them asks that charge of operating aircraft while intoxicated be thrown out on the grounds that at the time that they were stopped, which led to their arrest the pilots were not actually operating the aircraft. The defense argues that the aircraft was being pushed back from the terminal, by a tug, the steering mechanisms were shut down, and the prosecutor is going to oppose that. One other motion that this case be taken from state to federal court. Once again, the prosecutor will argue against that, too, on October 23rd.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Now, Mark, what about the point that Cloyd and Hughes seem to have gotten into rehab pretty quickly. Would that have any bearing on this hearing, or impact on this hearing?

POTTER: It might, and it's certainly a good move on the part of the defense, not to say that they didn't mean to do it that they were not serious; but that always looks good, if they go into rehab before going to trial, it makes it easier at sentencing to say you are trying to turn your life around. Again, I'm not diminishing what they did, but you often see this in cases like this, and it certainly is a point that will be made by the defense if they need to use it.

PHILLIPS: Can you tell us a little bit more about the evidence that we have here. I was reading that there are breathalyzer tests, there's a bar bill, there's some video from the bar. How is all this going to play out?

POTTER: Well, this is clearly a prosecutor's case. The prosecutor told me today, this -- he has never seen case like this, where he had so much evidence to play with. There are the breathalyzer results, that show that they are over the legal limit in Florida. There is videotape of them at the security counter, arguing with the officials there. There is also security that was -- a tape that was taken at the bar, where they were shown out at night. There is evidence of how much they paid for the alcohol, around $140. It doesn't show who drank what, but it shows big bar bill. There is evidence of when they came back to their hotel room early in morning, timeline of five hours of or so later when they tried to fly aircraft.

This is clearly a prosecutor's case, definitely an uphill battle for the defense.

PHILLIPS: Mark Potter in Miami. Thanks, Mark.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com