October 16, 2012
BRASILIA (AFP) - Two US pilots were retried in their absence before a Brazilian court Monday for their role in the mid-air collision of a business jet and an airliner in an accident that killed 154 people in 2006.
After five years of investigation and legal wrangling, a judge in the central western state of Matto Grosso had sentenced the two pilots of the business jet to 52 months in jail last year. However, this was later commuted to community service in the United States.
But relatives of the victims pressed for a new trial, insisting that the two Americans -- Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino -- were responsible for the tragedy.
"We hope that they will be permanently barred from flying again so that they do not endanger other lives and so that they serve their sentence in jail," said Rosane Gutjahr, who lost her husband in the accident.
It was not immediately clear when a verdict in the the retrial might come.
Lepore and Paladino were piloting the Embraer Legacy jet when it collided with the Gol Boeing 737 at about 37,000 feet (12,300 meters) over central Brazil on September 29, 2006. They insisted they were cleared by air traffic controllers to fly at that level.
The two Americans were able to bring their jet and five passengers safely to the ground despite part of the aircraft's tail being sheared off.
After the accident the two were accused by Brazilian authorities of illegally exposing their aircraft to danger.
Lepore and Paladino returned to the United States in December 2006 after being held for a few weeks.
