NY court orders new sentence in 1968 air hijacking

Posted on Thursday, 05.31.12

NY court orders new sentence in 1968 air hijacking
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- A man sentenced to prison for 15 years for hijacking a plane
from New York to Cuba four decades ago will be resentenced after a
federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a lower-court judge wrongly
concluded he would not be eligible for parole.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the resentencing for
69-year-old Luis Armando Pena Soltren. Pena Soltren returned to the
United States from Cuba in October 2009 to face air-piracy charges. He
pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison without
parole.

The appeals court said Pena Soltren is entitled to a sentence that
includes the possibility of parole because parole existed in the federal
sentencing structure when Pan American Flight 281 was hijacked on Nov.
24, 1968. The 2nd Circuit said the judge can take Pena Soltren's parole
eligibility into account in determining a new sentence. Prisoners at the
time were generally eligible for parole after serving about a third of
their sentences.

Authorities said Pena Soltren put a knife to the throat of a flight
attendant and a gun to her back before entering the cockpit. Prosecutors
said Pena Soltren, a U.S. citizen, carried out the hijacking with at
least two others who brought pistols and large knives aboard in a baby's
diaper bag. The pilots were forced to divert the Puerto Rico-bound
flight, which was carrying 103 passengers and crew, from Kennedy
International Airport to Havana.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system, and inmates now must
serve their entire sentence, except for a 15 percent reduction earned
for good behavior. No new sentencing date was immediately set for Pena
Soltren.

Pena Soltren's lawyer, James Neuman, declined to comment. He said prior
to the first sentencing that his client only joined the hijacking so he
could visit his father in a Cuban hospital.

Two others who participated in the hijacking pleaded guilty to charges
in the 1970s. One served seven years in prison while the other served
four years.

Jerika Richardson, a spokeswoman for prosecutors, said the government
had no comment on the appeals ruling.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/31/2825767/ny-court-orders-new-sentence-in.html