Seth Wenig/Associated Press Steven Slater, the former JetBlue flight attendant, leaves the courthouse in Queens with his lawyer, Daniel J. Horwitz.The former JetBlue flight attendant who famously slid down an emergency chute after broadcasting his frustrations over the public address system managed to sidestep jail time on Tuesday, agreeing to a plea deal that calls for him to attend counseling sessions regularly for at least a year.
The former flight attendant, Steven Slater, appeared in Queens Mental Health Court, a pilot program for certain criminal defendants with mental health issues. Judge Marcia P. Hirsch accepted his guilty plea to two charges of attempted criminal mischief, one a felony, one a misdemeanor.
After the hearing on Tuesday, he seemed contrite. “At the end of the day, I’m a grown-up and I must take responsibility for my actions,” he said outside the court.
Under the plea deal, Mr. Slater agreed to enroll in an alternative sentencing program that requires him to undergo mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment for the next year. He must also keep regular appointments with the court to report on his progress.
Mr. Slater acknowledged that he opened the emergency chute on a JetBlue flight from Pittsburgh on Aug. 9, grabbing a beer and sliding to the tarmac after what the authorities said was an encounter with a passenger who stood up before the seat-belt light had been turned off. To those who rallied around him on Facebook — or through a “Steven Slater defense fund” and “free Steven Slater” T-shirts — he became something of a folk hero.
Mr. Slater can remain free as long as he complies with the terms of the plea deal. If he completes the program to Judge Hirsch’s satisfaction, the felony charge will be dropped, and he will be sentenced to a year’s probation on the misdemeanor. The plea deal also calls for him to pay JetBlue $10,000, which was described as the cost of replacing the emergency chute.
The Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, said he agreed to the alternative sentencing after he became convinced that Mr. Slater had accepted responsibility for his meltdown. “While many had depicted the defendant as a somewhat folk hero,” Mr. Brown said, “I had expressed the view that the defendant’s action’s were not a laughing matter.”
Mr. Brown said that prosecutors had investigated the case and had spoken to a number of the passengers, and that “intoxication had something to do that day with what transpired.”
He gave a rundown of the moments leading up to when Mr. Slater set off the emergency chute. “My own view of the situation was that Mr. Slater was humiliated by what he perceived as degrading working conditions,” Mr. Brown said, “and he had a level of rage at that time that was exacerbated perhaps by alcohol consumption and maybe by other contributing stress factors.”
“He clearly has a mental health-alcohol abuse problem,” Mr. Brown said. “While his condition does not in my mind justify or excuse his actions, it does to some respect explain them. I think it’s also fair to say Mr. Slater has recognized the seriousness of his actions.”
Mick Meenan contributed reporting.
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