Friday, February 17, 2006

Patriot Act Misapplied Again: Man Charged With Shining Laser into Jet Cockpit

Here they go again with misapplying the Patriot Act.

A court in New Jersey applied the Patriot Act against a man who was charged with firing a laser into a jet cockpit and a police helicopter and sentenced him to two months probation.

TWO MONTHS PROBATION??!

Existing statutes should have been applied; he would have gotten significant jail time AND probation. Instead this man is getting two months probation for endangering a commercial jetliner on landing approach and a police helicopter some time later.

They need to either upgrade the Patriot Act sentencing guidelines or stop applying it and let more stringent federal laws punish the transgressor.

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