An
Idaho judge didn’t exactly throw the book at Christopher V. Lewis during the
sentencing hearing for the convicted crop duster shooter, choosing to forgo
jail time in favor of three years of supervised probation. Despite calls from a
range of voices within aviation and agriculture for a stiff sentence to send a
message that shooting at an ag aircraft is a criminal act that won’t be
tolerated, Judge Randy Stoker opted to publicly shame—and attempt to rehabilitate—Lewis by requiring the convicted felon to fulfill a series of court-ordered
stipulations in exchange for his freedom. Among the wrist-rapping penalties
ordered by the judge, the Twin Falls
(Idaho) Times-News reports,
Lewis must:
- Write a letter of apology to the ag
pilot he fired shots at with a 10-gauge shotgun.
- Purchase a half-page ad in a Sunday
edition of the Times-News explaining
what he did and why shooting at an airplane is wrong.
- Develop a program he must present at six
youth hunter safety courses explaining “the error of his ways.”
- Enroll in “Moral Reconation Therapy,” a
treatment strategy that seeks to decrease recidivism among juvenile and adult
criminal offenders by increasing moral reasoning.
If
Lewis fails to live up to the terms of his probation, the judge promised to
sentence him to five to 10 years in prison. “You violate my probation in any
material respect, you’re doing five years of fixed time in Boise,” Stoker admonished Lewis, according to the Times-News.
“I
want this to be a deterrence to others who might have the idiotic thinking that
you have,” the judge added. The sentence is disappointing to NAAA and others within
the agricultural aviation industry who were hoping Lewis would receive jail
time from the start. Concerned that Lewis would get off with a slap on the wrist,
NAAA member George Parker III of Crop Jet Aviation in Gooding, Idaho, organized
a letter-writing campaign seeking a stiff sentence for Lewis. Parker gathered
letters from individual operators and growers, NAAA, Idaho AAA, AOPA and other
aviation and agricultural groups in effort to illustrate the gravity of the
shooting to the judge. He then turned the letters—18 in all—over to the
prosecuting attorney in the case. Click here to read NAAA’s letter to Judge Stoker.
Last
night Parker expressed his disappointment with the ruling on Facebook while
taking solace that the letter-writing campaign was not all for naught. Even
though the judge rejected the letters, Parker feels the letters had an overall positive
effect and should help if another aircraft shooting incident occurs in Idaho in
the future. “The prosecutor gained a whole new understanding of the gravity of
an aircraft shooting case and we believe will treat them different in the
future … I feel as though it would have been handled differently from the
beginning if it was understood as it is now by their office. The prosecutor did
end up asking for 3–5 years jail time,” Parker wrote on Facebook.
NAAA
President Leif Isaacson, who is also an aerial applicator in Idaho, was
prepared to testify on the industry’s behalf at the sentencing hearing, but the
judge would only allow the victim and eyewitnesses in the case to testify. NAAA
applauds Parker for his efforts in pursuit of a proper sentence in the case of
the Idaho crop duster shooter. Jail time or not, a contrite Lewis assured the
court, “I know there’s concern from the community that pilots are in danger
because of my actions. They’re safe to do their job. This will never happen
again.”
