He Lit Up in Jet, Ignited a Flare-Up, Court Told

A mortician on a cross-country flight became enraged, twisted a flight attendant’s arm behind her back and shoved her across the aisle of the airplane when he was told he could not smoke, a prosecutor said Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Robin R. Scroggie said in his opening argument that James J. Tabacca began hurling profanities and assaulted the TWA flight attendant when she tried to enforce a smoking ban on the flight from Boston to Los Angeles last December.

Defense lawyers maintain that Tabacca “never touched that stewardess.”

Smoking Law at Issue

Tabacca’s trial is expected to focus attention on a federal regulation that allows airlines to ban smoking on any flight if there are a sufficient number of nonsmokers.

Judge Atsushi Tashima read an indictment to the jury--which includes two smokers--alleging that Tabacca “assaulted, intimidated and threatened flight service manager Pamela Martinez” and interfered with her ability to perform her duties.

Prosecution and defense lawyers agree that Tabacca was sitting in a what would have been a smoking section of TWA’s flight 853 from Boston to Los Angeles on Dec. 30. Because of a high demand for nonsmoking seats on the flight, however, airline officials banned smoking in the ambassador and coach sections of the plane.

Airline officials announced before and during the flight that smoking would not be permitted in those areas, Scroggie said, but Tabacca “responded that he didn’t care about the regulation and he was going to smoke anyway.”

When Martinez asked him to put out his cigarette, Tabacca twisted her arm behind her back and “suddenly and violently threw her against the bulkhead on the other side of the aisle,” leaving scratches and bruises on her back and right forearm, Scroggie said.

As he was leaving the plane, Tabacca “intentionally rammed his shoulder into her” and “swung his garment bag directly into Pam Martinez’s leg,” he said.

Tabacca’s lawyer, Deputy Federal Public Defender Marilyn Butler, said the evidence will show that Mr. Tabacca never touched Martinez.

“Nothing happened. All the people surrounding Mr. Tabacca who could be found saw nothing,” Butler said.

There may have been some jostling at the end of the flight, when Tabacca and other passengers went to pick up their luggage. But Butler insisted that Tabacca never intentionally struck anyone.

“Everybody wanted off that flight, including the stewardesses,” Butler added. “Chaos doesn’t even describe what was going on.” She blamed the havoc on the airplane’s captain, who “never gave a show of authority to help the stewardesses out.”

Butler said banning smoking on the flight was unfair to Tabacca, who “boarded the plane fully expecting to be able to smoke.”

If he is convicted, Tabacca faces a 20-year sentence and a possible $250,000 fine, Scroggie said.

In another development, TWA filed a civil complaint in federal court Monday against Tabacca and passengers James and Heather Kell. The complaint seeks reparations for “damages in an amount not presently ascertained” but in excess of $10,000.

The complaint alleges that their refusal to obey the smoking ban on the flight “resulted in assaults, threats, intimidation or interference in the performance of the crew members’ duties.”