Judge: Gyrocopter pilot can’t join campaign finance protest march to Washington
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Version 0 of 1. The man who landed a gyrocopter on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol last year was denied permission to join a campaign finance protest march from Philadelphia to Washington before his April 13 sentencing by a federal judge who cited the risk the pilot could join in civil disobedience. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the District noted Wednesday that it did not appear that D.C. police have issued a permit for what organizers with the group 99Rise called a “Democracy Spring” march, featuring Douglas Hughes, 62, of Ruskin, Fla.. Hughes pleaded guilty in November to a felony charge of flying without a license for piloting his low-power gyrocopter last April 15 from Gettysburg, Pa., to the District to deliver letters advocating campaign finance reform to Congress. [Gyrocopter pilots pleads guilty] “While Defendant may not intend to participate in civil disobedience, he may not be in a position to control what happens on the march,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote. The judge also expressed “some concern” about Hughes’s “ability to be forthright,” noting that, about six months before he made his flight, he was deceptive when he told a U.S. Secret Service agent he did not own a gyrocopter or have any plan to fly to Washington. Hughes has asked for probation, and prosecutors seek a 10-month prison sentence. Hughes had been confined mainly to his home Hillsborough County, Fla., although the court has permitted him to travel to South Florida to run for Congress against Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), the chair of the Democratic National Committee. |