Amorous Flyer Guilty of Disrupting Flight

(Wilmington, North Carolina) In November 2006, Carl Warren Persing and Dawn Elizabeth Sewell were on a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Raleigh with a stop in Phoenix. After consuming a few Jack Daniels and Coke, they became amorous and refused to stop their public display of affection even when directed to by the flight attendant.

According to an affidavit by FBI agent Michael Sutton:

From Phoenix to Raleigh, the pair sat next to each other.

While in the plane on the ground in Phoenix, the couple was kissing, embracing and "acting in a manner that made other passengers uncomfortable," Sutton wrote in his affidavit.

"Persing was observed nuzzling or kissing Sewell on the neck, and around the collarbone in the vicinity of her breast," Sutton wrote. Persing was also observed with his face pressed against Sewell's lower body.

At first, the couple complied with a request from a flight attendant to stop their behavior. But they soon resumed during the flight.

When asked again, according to Sutton's affidavit, Persing told the flight attendant: "I'm going to give you one warning to get out of my face."

Persing, of Lakewood, CA, and Sewell, of Huntington Beach, CA, were met by federal agents in Raleigh and arrested.

In the latest development, a jury in U.S. District Court in Wilmington found 41-year-old Persing guilty of interfering with a flight attendant, a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. An August 6th sentencing date has been scheduled by Judge James C. Fox.

The prosecution portrayed Persing as a bully who impeded flight attendant Frank McCabe from doing his job. Defense attorneys Deb Newton and William Peregoy claimed that Persing was irritable from medication he took for severe liver damage (perchance from the Jack Daniels?). They also claimed that McCabe harassed Persing. Despite the defense's argument, Persing was convicted.

Newton expressed considerable disappointment at the verdict and said an appeal is planned. She claims that the whole episode was caused by a gay flight attendant not wanting to see a man being amorous with a female, therefore, he aggressively tried to stop perfectly innocent behavior. In response, Newton said Persing became rude and rudeness is hardly a reason for a possible 20-year prison sentence.

In a related development, all charges against 40-year-old Dawn Elizabeth Sewell, Persing's girlfriend, were dismissed.