A woman who viciously punched a Southwest Airlines flight attendant is facing only four months of jail time. Does her plea deal let her off too easily for what amounted to a violent, injury-induing attack?
Woman Faces Four Months In Jail For Punching Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant
Vyvianna M. Quinonez, 28, of Sacramento, California stood up and punched a flight attendant onboard Southwest Airlines flight 700 from Sacramento (SMF) to San Diego (SAN) in May 2021. She had lowered her mask and tray table prior to landing and refused to wear her seatbelt. When confronted, she exploded in a fit of rage.
The attack, including punching her in the face and pulling her hair, seriously injured the flight attendant, chipping three teeth and also causing bruising and laceration under the eye that required stitches as well as a brush to the arm. Two of the there chipped teeth had to be crowned.
Despite the severity of the crime and potential jail time of up to 20 years, Quinonez reached a plea deal with prosecutors. In exchange for admitting fault, she will face:
- Four months in jail
- Six months of home confinement
- Three-year flight ban
- $5,000 fine
- $20,000 restitution for victim
- 250 hours of community service
- anger management classes
Randy Grossman, an Acting United States Attorney, said:
“The flight attendant who was assaulted was simply doing her job to ensure the safety of all passengers aboard the plane. t’s inexcusable for anyone to use violence on an airplane for any reason, particularly toward a flight attendant who is there to keep all the passengers safe. We are not going to tolerate violence or interference with the flight crew, and we will pursue criminal charges against those who break the law.”
Quinonez will be sentenced next March.
Seems a bit lenient for violently attacking a flight attendant, doesn’t it? The statutory maximum of 20 years may be far too long, but four months in the slammer? That’s like a slap on the wrist.
CONCLUSION
A woman who assaulted a Southwest Airlines flight attendant will face justice, but her plea deal means she will only spend four months in jail unless the judge elects to disregard the prosecutor’s recommendation. Even with the monetary fines and home arrest, she should be thankful she is getting off so easy.
> Read More: How A Passenger Defended Knocking Two Teeth Off Southwest Flight Attendant
Not lenient at all – it’s really 10 months of confinement, albeit 6 at home (which is still being confined). $20K is a lot of money and a 3 year flight ban is a long time.
No rational person is going to look at this sentence and say “boy, I punch a flight attendant and get off easy”. So, then, why impose more punishment other than revenge? And revenge should never be a motivation for sentencing.
Agree with Ryan. The 4 months in jail plus 6 months at-home, plus $25K in fines and restitution (which might be 6 months of work/wages for the woman), plus 250 hours community service makes for a fairly robust set of punishments.
It’s better that her punishment includes work/restitution and community service, as opposed to just sitting extra months in jail at taxpayer expense.
I think it’s fair. She’s going to have to suffer and change. Fines/restitution are not chump change in this case.
Anything over a year plus the misc. sounds about right. This punishment is weak sauce.
Sounds fair to me for the crime, it’s certainly not a light sentence. I believe we as travel enthusiasts want larger punishments for flight related incidents but the reality is this is more than what many convicted of assault get.
Normal law abiding citizens like us always want more severe penalties for crimes that are personal to us.
Hopefully this loser will end up in a brawl and get stabbed in the back and paralyzed. She can spend the rest of her miserable existence crawling around thee ground.
Hopefully the 3 year flight ban is for all airlines, not just WN
They got her good. Hopefully the other losers who condone this type of behavior will think twice. And it’s a good lesson for her kids to see too .
She was charged with federal felonies, so if she pled to a felony count for this sentence, that comes with all the “I’m a felon” disabilities, too: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/03/vyvianna-quinonez-federal-charges/
Note: Also “I’m a violent felon.”
Jails and prisons are an archaic concept that don’t gel with a reasoned society. The only reason we have dangerous and disruptive groups living in our communities and flying on the same planes is because these groups are forced on us by cops who enforce court orders and diversity/housing laws. These groups shouldn’t be living among us in the first place. Jails and prisons are a symptom of this.
Jails and prisons don’t actually cure anything. Either the person didn’t commit a real crime (drugs, not paying taxes, bearing arms, speech, self defense, fighting for freedom, not wearing a mask, and etc) and shouldn’t have been there in the first place or habitually violent/thieving people aren’t going to be deterred because they were comfortable taking these risks in the first place and many aren’t thinking rationally. The conditions in every jail and prison only make the problem worse because a criminal is now a victim of abusive and immoral conditions at the hands of government and will likely double down on their life style. Instead of directing their legitimate anger on the jailers and cops who held them there, abused them, and put them their, they direct their anger on civilians. Those who aren’t habitual probably have mental health problems and belong with mental health care as opposed to jail/prison.
As for this case, I didn’t watch the video or read testimony from witnesses. I do know that flight attendants often abuse their power and I won’t defend one unless it’s proven a flight attendant isn’t a hot head.
“Hang ‘em, hang ‘em High! 20 years is correct, this needs to stop. Make an example of her to discourage others.
She will spend 80 days in jail on a 120 day sentence if she gets 1/3 off for good behavior. She will very likely lose her job, her children (if she has any), her house/apt, her credit will be ruined and on & on. Unless she has a partner that can pay the bills & watch the kids without her at home & her current income in the bank. The victim in the case is likely not the only victim here.
I hope she gets the help she needs to not reoffend. I know jail time will not help with her issues at all & will likely throw gas on the fire of her anger issues.
Yes, she hurt someone & she deserves whatever the judge gave her. I do not feel sorry for her but we need to be rational about how we reduce recidivism. Many months of jail time has not worked. This headline with “only 4 months” is not helpful either. A four month sentence does not help the perp or her family or undo the assult for the victim.
This headline could easily have been, “Woman Who Punched Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant Faces Four Months In Jail”. Evidently this site needs headline bait for clicks & I took it. Well done.
4 months in jail is 4 months where she won’t be earning the money to pay the fines. A year iu jail sounds good, but spending time working to pay fines sounds better. A friend of mine pays child support for 1 kid (which he doesn’t complain about, good Dad and all) but none of his earnings are his until he’s worked 15 hours in a 40 hour week. THAT is what these out of control passengers should be facing. Working for years to pay off your fines. No extra $$$ to travel on anyway. If I were the FA I wouldn’t give a damn about jail time, PAY me…for a long, long time.
Well said Chuckmo. The violent woman should be indebted to the FA for a very very very long time. Everyone is a winner in that case. If she cannot pay then she should be shot or euthanized.
Is she white?
Is she hot?
Life is unfair…..
While I definitely think there need to be harsh penalties for people like that, I do think jail time is a waste of taxpayer money as these are crimes of stupidity and anger not premeditated criminal actions.
I think the rest of the list is very fair and tough enough, as long as they actually do the maximum suggested
How long did the law-enforcement thugs who beat Dr. Dao got?
Government always protects itself. Airlines and their employees are, for the purposes of this excercise, are part of, and protected by, the authorities.
I just went back and looked at the video of this incident. The attack was vicious. Ms. Quinones didn’t just punch the attendant, she kept swinging like she was in a bar fight and the other person was fighting back. The attendant was not fighting her but trying to block the punches. I would really like to know the name of the man who got up and defended the attendant. Nothing has been said about him. As far as the sentencing is concerned (assuming this is a first offense), the only problem I have with it is she stays free until March of 2022. The dirt bag should have been taken away immediately.
As an attorney I’m surprised you think this is a light sentence. What would you suggest? Wasting tax payer dollars and put her away for 10 years? Most violent criminals don’t even get that. Kyle Rittenhouse mauls down three people and walks but yes let’s put this trash behind bars for years. Please.
She punched a FA. I actually think the plea bargain was a bit harsh but she likely had no other choice but to take it.
You sound like a low rent attorney with the scum of humanity as clients. You want that woman free on the streets?
Way too lenient. She should’ve been summarily executed.
My main beef with the punishment is that she should have been permanently banned from ever flying again. THAT kind of punishment might make others think twice before punching flight attendants.
I agree that what she did was wrong and hostile. I also agree there should be a punishment.
I would like to invite everyone to read The Authors article published on 9/2/21 titled “passenger excuse for punching attendant” (or something like that).
There’s another side to story which tells a tale of the flight attendant being disrespectful and being put in her place (This was confirmed by another passenger). Now I truly don’t think she needed to be put in her place that hard. That is someone’s daughter, sister, mother or wife. My point being that “slap on the wrist” plea agreement might have to do with the passenger not being the original aggressor.
Regardless, If the flight attendant tells you to sit down and put on your mask, you sit down and put on your mask.
The other side of it though is if faced with an disobedient passenger, putting your hands on them is not the way to properly handle this kind of situation. Just because you have authority does not give you the right to be a jerk.
None of us were there, so our opinions are null and void. It’s just she said she said. All I can say is obey the rules in any facility you are in. Whether you want to or not. It is ridiculous that this scuffle could have avoided by respect from both parties.
Much Respect to both your articles Matthew Klint. Yours was the only one I saw that brought up both sides of the arguement.