Immigrant Gets Prison for Threats on Plane

Weeping and pleading for mercy, an Iranian immigrant was sentenced to two years and nine months in federal prison Monday for threatening to “kill all Americans” after he was caught smoking on a plane bound from Los Angeles to Toronto.

Appearing in chains before a Los Angeles federal judge, Javid Naghani, a 38-year-old Canoga Park businessman, apologized for violating the no-smoking rule on airplanes, but denied uttering any anti-American remarks during the Sept. 27 flight.

“Judge, give me a chance,” he pleaded. “I did a mistake. I never did mean to harm anybody; I’m sorry about smoking.”

Naghani, a legal U.S. resident, was convicted by a federal jury in December of interfering with the Air Canada flight crew.

Defense attorney Theodore Flier argued that Naghani would have received a fine or a much lighter sentence if his crime had occurred before Sept. 11. He said he would appeal the conviction.

“If this were a pre-9/11 situation, we would not be in court today arguing over sentencing,” Flier told U.S. District Judge Ronald S. W. Lew.

Lew said that Sept. 11 was not a factor in his sentencing decision.

“I do not take smoking lightly,” said the judge, adding that Naghani had never fully accepted responsibility for his actions.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Naghani could have received up to three years and five months in prison. He already has spent six months behind bars, which will count toward his sentence.

Naghani’s troubles began during the start of a long-anticipated vacation trip to Canada with his wife and their pet poodle.

While waiting to board their plane at Los Angeles International Airport, Naghani had several glasses of wine, his wife testified at his two-day trial.

Flier said Monday that his client was “completely intoxicated” when he boarded the plane and that flight attendants were aware of his condition. Naghani was later found to have a blood-alcohol reading in excess of 0.20%, Flier said. The legal limit for drivers in California is 0.08%.

“This situation could have been avoided if the flight attendants had simply said, ‘We can’t let you on the plane,’” Flier said.

Several minutes after the Boeing 767 took off, Naghani went to a lavatory, where he lighted a cigarette.

Responding to a smoke alarm, flight attendants pounded on the lavatory door and ordered him to come out.

Two attendants testified that he initially denied smoking and resisted telling them where he had disposed of his cigarette.

They said he became belligerent, saying that he wanted to “kill all Americans” or words to that effect.

Naghani, who lives in Woodland Hills, took the stand in his own defense.

“I swear to God, I never say that and I never will,” he told the jury in broken, heavily accented English.

He said he begged the crew not to have him arrested because he needed to be available to pay employees at his Canoga Park business, Cleaning of America.

Flier argued that, given Naghani’s thick accent, the flight crew may have mistaken “Cleaning of America” for “killing Americans.”

Acting on the flight attendants’ request, the Air Canada pilot returned to LAX, escorted by two military jets.

Naghani was arrested by FBI agents who stormed the plane.

In an unrelated aircraft disturbance case, David Murdoch Boone, 36, of New Orleans pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday to a charge of interfering with the crew of a Southwest Airlines jetliner that was taxiing on a runway at LAX on Jan. 7.

Boone was accused of hitting a flight attendant and opening an exit door as the plane was about to take off for Las Vegas.

Trial was set for April 16.