Auburn calloway trial

Calloway presented himself at the plane in full flight gear and with carry-on items. Although he was not a member of the flight crew, he entered the cockpit and began adjusting instruments and controls as if he were. The real crew members--pilot David Sanders, co-pilot James Tucker, and flight engineer Andy Peterson--arrived later, and they assumed Mr. Calloway was a "jump-seater" i.

After the plane took off, Mr. Calloway entered the cockpit and began attacking the crew with a hammer. He then left the cockpit, armed himself with a spear gun and spear, and renewed his assault. At some point in the course of these events crew members were able to request--and were cleared for--an emergency return to the Memphis airport. While two of the crew members struggled with Mr.

Calloway, pilot Sanders successfully completed an emergency landing. A paramedic then entered the aircraft and handcuffed Calloway. The plane was later searched by FedEx security personnel, who found two claw hammers, two sledgehammers, a spear gun, and a spear. They also discovered a note from Mr.

Calloway to his ex-wife, describing the author's apparent despair. The crew of Flight sustained serious injuries. Co-pilot Tucker suffered severe skull fractures, and he developed motor control problems in his right arm and right leg. He was also partially blinded in one eye as a result of Mr. Calloway's attempt to gouge the eye out. Pilot Sanders suffered several deep gashes in his head, and doctors had to sew his right ear back in place. He was stabbed in his right arm and had a dislocated jaw.

Flight engineer Peterson's skull was fractured and his temporal artery severed. Douglas Kinzie, a FedEx employee who shared an apartment with Mr. Calloway, called the Federal Bureau of Investigation after learning of the attack.

Kinzie reported that he had seen a note in the apartment, presumably written by Mr. Calloway, listing the names of the Flight crew. FBI agents also learned from FedEx officials about the note found in the plane and about the change of beneficiaries on the insurance policies. On the strength of this information, the FBI applied for a warrant to search Mr.

Calloway's apartment. A magistrate judge issued the warrant, which authorized seizure of " [d]ocuments listing names of Federal Express crew members, notes concerning Federal Express Flight , [and] records pertaining to insurance beneficiary transfers. Calloway's will, and a power of attorney form. On May 17, , a federal grand jury handed up a two-count indictment charging Mr. Calloway with attempted aircraft piracy in violation of 49 U.

Calloway moved to suppress the evidence seized from the apartment, arguing that the magistrate judge lacked probable cause to issue the warrant and that the FBI agents exceeded the scope of the warrant in executing it. The motion was denied in all respects relevant to this appeal. At sentencing, after the petit jury had found the defendant guilty on both counts of the indictment, the district court departed from a sentencing guideline offense level of 38 and used a level of 43 instead.

The guideline range for offense level 38, absent any significant prior criminal history and Mr. Calloway had none , is imprisonment for months. The guideline range for offense level 43, irrespective of criminal history, is life imprisonment. Calloway challenges his convictions on several grounds. First of all, he says, the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence obtained in the search of his apartment.

We disagree. United States v. Dotson, 49 F. Probable cause is determined by examining the totality of the circumstances, and it must be given a "practical, nontechnical" construction. Illinois v. Gates, U. We believe that the magistrate judge had ample support for his finding of probable cause in this case. As we have seen, FBI agents knew of the note written by Mr. Calloway to his ex-wife, and they knew that the suspect had recently changed the beneficiaries of his life insurance policies.

Calloway's roommate had informed the agents of a note, believed to be written by Mr. Calloway and located in his apartment, listing the names of the Flight crew. Jim Tucker engaged the autopilot, unbuckled his seatbelt, and struggled from his seat despite nearly complete paralysis in his right limbs.

Blood was smeared and spattered upon every visible surface, and dislodged detritus littered the room. Jim Tucker relieved his captain from guard duty, and Pilot Sanders returned to the cockpit. Via radio, Sanders reiterated the need for security upon their arrival. And his glasses seemed to have gone missing. Sanders adjusted course to head back to Memphis. The plane was still nearly full of fuel, putting it well over the recommended safe landing weight, but the veteran pilot had little choice.

He selected the longest available runway to allow maximum stopping distance. A few minutes outside of Memphis, as the plane descended, Calloway suddenly lashed out again with renewed vigor. He dragged his handicapped captors across the galley as they struggled to regain the upper hand. Andy Peterson finally found purchase on a hammer handle from the floor and made eye contact with co-pilot Tucker.

Flight landed heavily on Memphis runway 36 about half an hour after their original departure. Despite the excess fuel weight Captain Sanders managed to stop the DC with no blown tires and a few hundred meters of tarmac to spare. As emergency vehicles converged on the parked plane, Sanders emerged from the little room in the front of the plane where the pilots sit and opened the emergency escape chute. No one on the ground knew anything about the emergency beyond the fact that there had been an attempted takeover.

The scene that met the paramedic atop the ladder was strange and gruesome. There were bloody footprints on the walls and ceiling, and the upholstery had somehow been peeled entirely from the jump seat.

Papers, packages, hammers, and brutalized FedEx employees were scattered around the plane. David Teague handcuffed the tenderized would-be hijacker, and the semiconscious crew disembarked via the inflatable escape slide. Co-pilot Tucker suffered severe skull fractures, including a hole larger than a golf ball. He would require months of physical therapy to regain full motor control in his right arm and leg, and a lifetime of anti-seizure medication.

He was also partially blinded in his gouged eye. As for Calloway, his injuries were less severe, but his original fear was realized: FedEx elected to terminate his employment. They also found a note listing the names of the flight flight crew, and another note listing the weapons he had brought with him on the plane.

The judge did not agree, and he told them so. After the defense failed to impress the court with other arguments regarding technicalities, a grand petit jury convicted Calloway of attempted aircraft piracy and sentenced him to life in prison with no possibility of parole. He is presently jailed in a federal prison near Atwater, California. For a while he maintained his innocence via www.

Sadly, due to their injuries none of the men are medically fit for commercial piloting anymore. The aircraft involved in the incident was repaired, and it still flies in the FedEx fleet as of It has been upgraded from a DC to an MD; a revised model which eliminates the need for a flight engineer. Additionally, he demonstrated cunning in his use of blunt instruments to simulate crash trauma, yet he left an orgy of damning evidence in his home.

One wonders whether his mind was dulled with madness, or if perhaps he wanted the world to know what he had done once it was all over. Last updated 03 June If you wish to repurpose this copyrighted work, you must obtain permission. Thanks for yet another great article, Alan! Your hard work is greatly appreciated by all your readers! I first heard about it about a month after it happened from some FedEx employees while I was waiting for a flight at the Memphis airport.

One thing they mentioned was that one of the pilots was a last minute substitution, and the one he replaced was much smaller.

One can only imagine how differently this might have gone if that had happened. Technically, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. And dziban is correct. The actual trial utilized a petit jury, not a grand. What is it? Glad to see new articles once again. Great article! My ears are aching for some of that sweet sweet candy…. Who is going to be reading the story?

Is it Alan or a guest? I may need to find someone else to read or edit for me. Auburn Calloway was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The DC went into a dive at over mph, something the craft was not designed to do, but somehow Tucker, with only one working hand, managed to pull out of the dive and radio the tower with an emergency call. Perhaps the most high-profile commutations are those that change a death sentence to life in prison, or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Flight engineer Peterson's skull was fractured and his temporal artery severed. He planned to crash the aircraft hoping that he would appear to be an employee killed in an accident. He is currently serving his time in a California prison and protests his conviction via his website.

Thanks to the heroic efforts of the flight crew, not only did the plane land safely, they also managed to keep Auburn Calloway subdued until authorities boarded the craft in Memphis and arrested him.

That maneuver threw Calloway off-balance and allowed Sanders and Peterson to tackle him and hold him down. The guideline range for offense level 38, absent any significant prior criminal history and Mr. But that crew went one minute over their eight-hour flight limit the previous day, Hirschman said. Among the severe injuries sustained by the crew, Tucker and Peterson had skull fractures and Sanders had to have his right ear sewn back in place while also dealing with deep head gashes.

Hirschman said Tucker had the hardest road to recovery because of the severity of his wounds. His injuries caused motor control problems on his right arm and leg, said Nelson's decision. The whole crew ultimately recovered while handling the burdens of the attack in their own way, Hirschman said. None could fly a commercial jet after the head injuries they received, The Commercial Appeal reported in But the event bonded them for life.

Reach him at max. Max Garland Memphis Commercial Appeal.