MIAMI — A Florida jury found former America West pilots Thomas Cloyd and Christopher Hughes guilty of operating a plane while intoxicated, even though the plane was never airborne.

The panel of six men arrived at their decision after about six hours of deliberation, which began Tuesday afternoon in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

The two men bowed their heads as the verdicts were read aloud in the same courtroom where Ted Bundy was convicted of murder and O.J. Simpson was acquitted of road rage.

Prosecutors called 18 witnesses in the seven-day trial to show that the defendants reported to work after an all-night bender that ended less than five hours before they were due in the cockpit on July 1, 2002.

Story continues

advertisement

Jurors heard evidence that the two consumed about 28 pints of Sierra Nevada over six hours at Mr. Moe's cantina in Coconut Grove, Fla., returning to the Mayfair Hotel at about 5:30 a.m.

When they arrived for work at about 10 a.m. the following morning, Cloyd and Hughes may have had blood-alcohol levels as high as .15 and .137, respectively, according to one prosecution expert. Florida's legal limit is .08.

After the verdict, the men were permitted to linger at the defense table for a few minutes with their families.

They tightly embraced their wives, who have participated in their husbands' defense throughout the trial by taking notes during testimony and participating in meetings with lawyers.

Hughes, a father of two young children, sobbed into wife Robin's shoulder.

Cloyd appeared more stoic as his wife, Debbie, a former flight attendant, cried and spoke softly to her husband.

Hughes' wife placed her husband's chain around her neck as both men handed over their wallets and jewelry to their wives before they were fingerprinted, handcuffed and led from the courtroom.

Cloyd, 48, and Hughes, 44, face up to five years in prison when Judge David Young sentences them July 20. Before the trial, the men had offered to plead guilty in exchange for 14 months in prison, but Young rejected the deal.

Outside the courthouse, Assistant State Attorney Hillah Katz spoke about the verdict's possible implications.

"We appreciate that the jury took their time to absorb all the technical aspects of this trial," said Katz, a former prosecutor in the Miami-Dade office of DUI prosecutions. "This case sends the same message the state attorney's office sends every day in our DUI prosecutions, and the message extends to pilots."

Thomas Cloyd and his wife, Debbie, after the verdict

Attorneys for Cloyd and Hughes declined comment, as did jurors, although one man simply said that the panel had followed the law.

Defense lawyers argued during the trial that the pilots were never in control of the plane, which was attached to a tug vehicle before police halted the flight because of suspicions the pilots were intoxicated.

They also disputed their clients' level of impairment in light of witness testimony that the two men appeared lucid and in control of their faculties, in spite of a $122 bar tab and projected blood-alcohol levels of at least .135 at the time they entered the cockpit.

Outside the courthouse, Assistant State Attorney Deisy Rodriguez said she believed the testimony of the America West vice president of operations, Capt. Joseph Chronic, was the most crucial evidence.

Chronic described a litany of tasks the pilots would have performed before the tug vehicle commenced, from signing a dispatch release to inputting the flight path directives to the aircraft's "highway in the sky."

"His testimony showed just how reckless and careless the defendants were," she said.

Rodriguez's colleague, Armando Hernandez, supported her statement.

"The main issue here was, were they operating the aircraft?" said Hernandez, a former commercial pilot. "I'm confident that once the jury heard what it takes, they understood that operation was much broader than tug operation."

Christopher Hughes with his wife, Robin

Authorities were put on alert after security guards said they detected the smell of alcohol on Hughes as he passed through a security checkpoint at Miami International Airport.

In her closing argument, Rodriguez had reminded jurors of an altercation between Cloyd and security personnel at the same checkpoint.

An airport employee testified that Cloyd barked, "That s--- doesn't apply to me," when told of a security directive forbidding coffee through the checkpoint.

"Today, it's up to you to tell them that s--- does apply to them," she said.