New Jersey Man Who Shined Laser Pointer at Plane Pleads Guilty

A man who shined a laser pointer at an airplane last year pleaded guilty Wednesday to violating the Patriot Act.

David W. Banach, 39, of Parsippany, could get anywhere from probation to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced for interfering with a passenger aircraft, a provision in the post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism law.

His lawyer, Gina Mendola-Longarzo, said he was using the device to point out stars to his daughter last December.

The crew aboard the charter flight from Boca Raton, Fla., said the beam temporarily blinded the two pilots, and they could not see their flight instruments.

Banach's attorney took issue with prosecutors' use of the Patriot Act. "It should be limited to acts of terrorism," Mendola-Longarzo said.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie disagreed. "If that plane had crashed, you would have been calling him a lot more than stupid," he said.

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