Combative flight passenger given probation

A Hanford, Calif., woman whose violent attack on a Horizon Air flight attendant resulted in her plane turning around midflight and returning to Seattle was given three years of probation Friday by a federal judge, told to apologize and scolded by a Horizon attorney, who said she could never fly with the company again.

Krista Bauer, 23, could have faced additional jail time for the Aug. 25, 2007, attack on a flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Billings, Mont., but prosecutors and defense agreed the horrific circumstances of her trip — her older sister had been slain by a younger sibling that morning — warranted some leniency.

"The government believes that the recommended sentenced adequately addresses both the serious nature of the defendant's crimes ... while also taking into account defendant's extremely distraught and fragile emotional state on the night of the assault," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Crisham.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones gave Bauer credit for the 67 days of jail time she had already served and gave her three years of probation. She also must undergo additional substance-abuse treatment. She spent 60 days in treatment after she was released from jail. She must complete 200 hours of community service and write letters of apology to the airline and the flight attendant she attacked.

"This court sees this as a serious offense," Jones said, according to a U.S. attorney's office news release. "But for the tragic circumstances involving your family, you could have been facing walking out that door to additional prison time."

Bauer pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight attendant in exchange for the dismissal of a more serious assault charge.

According to court documents, Bauer learned earlier in the day that her younger stepsister had stabbed her older sister to death in a drunken argument in Billings.

Bauer wrote to the court that her older sister "was the glue that held us all together" during a turbulent childhood that involved a methamphetamine-addicted mother and a parade of her drug-dealer boyfriends.

Her older sister, Jessica, "was our real mother," Bauer wrote.

That afternoon, Bauer flew from California to Portland, and then to Seattle to catch a connecting flight to Billings, where she was to make funeral arrangements and find care for the dead woman's children. Bauer admitted she drank several glasses of wine on an empty stomach. She said she remembered nothing else until she woke up in the psychiatric ward at Harborview Medical Center the following day.

According to court records, Bauer left her seat on the plane, which was carrying 36 passengers, and walked up the aisle toward the flight deck. A flight attendant told her to return to her seat, which is when Bauer said, "If anyone is going to die tonight, it'll be you," and grabbed the attendant in a headlock. Other passengers had to restrain her, and the flight returned to Sea-Tac.

At Friday's sentencing, Horizon Air attorney Howard Thiersch turned to Bauer and told her: "You are not welcome on any Horizon Air or Alaska Airlines Flight. Should you purchase a ticket, you will be barred from boarding the flight."

The airline had previously tried to obtain a temporary restraining order to prevent her from flying Horizon home from her sister's funeral. She flew to the funeral on Horizon without incident after she was released from Harborview but before she had been charged with a crime. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik refused to issue the order.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706

or mcarter@seattletimes.com