WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Florida man who flew a gyrocopter onto
the U.S. Capitol grounds to publicize campaign finance reform pleaded
guilty on Friday to a reduced charge.
Douglas Hughes, 62, a mail
carrier from Ruskin, Florida, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to
one felony count of operating as an airman without an airman's
certificate.
A date for Hughes's sentencing has not been set but
his attorney, Mark Goldstone, asked Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to give
him probation. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
Hughes
had rejected two plea deals. He had called his April 15 stunt an act of
civil disobedience and contended that his case would bring attention to
the need for campaign finance reform.
Hughes was arrested after
piloting the gyrocopter from Pennsylvania and landing on the west lawn
of the Capitol. He was carrying a letter for each of the 535 members of
Congress.
Hughes was fired from the U.S. Postal Service after the
flight, which was among the most high-profile in a series of security
lapses in the U.S. capital.
Hughes had faced six charges,
including violating aircraft registration requirements and breaching
national defense airspace. Aircraft are banned from flying in the area
of the Capitol and White House without permission.
A gyrocopter resembles a minimalist helicopter with an unpowered rotor and separate propeller.
The
flight exposed security lapses and showed the need for improved
information-sharing and air security technology, the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said in a report in August.
(This story corrects age in second paragraph, 62 instead of 61)
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