The 28-year-old Rutgers grad student that froze time at Newark Airport last month after breaching security to give his girlfriend a kiss before boarding... has finally had his (first) day in court. Haisong Jiang was charged with defiant trespass after a surveillance video showed him slipping into a secured area; a move that shut down terminal C and delayed hundreds of travelers on January 3rd.
Jiang pleaded not guilty, and can only receive a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $500 fine for the low-level offense. The NY Times reported back from the NJ courthouse where the kissing bandit's lawyer said his client would gladly serve community service to work off the penalty. He told the press, “He’s simply a lovesick young man who made a mistake. Obviously, he regrets that mistake.”
For a low level offense, there's been a lot of attention surrounding the incident since it put a spotlight on airport security (in the video from that day a Transportation Security Administration officer can be seen walking away from his post). Yesterday Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer said she planned to introduce legislation in the Assembly tomorrow that would bring tougher penalties for the kind of breach; if that legislation were in place now, Jiang would be facing three months in jail and $15,000 in fines. As of now, his case is recessed until March 9th.
