A 72-year-old man who is currently receiving treatment for blood cancer and reduced lung function has been sentenced to two years of home incarceration after he was found guilty of attempting to sexually assault a 15-year-old girl during a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta (ATL) to Seattle (SEA).
Munir Walji from Mercer Island, Washington, narrowly avoided being sent to prison despite protests from prosecutors when U.S. District Judge Tana Lin sentenced him to 10 years of supervised release, two of which must be spent incarcerated in his own home, at a hearing last week.
Prosecutor Laura Harmon had called on the court to consider a prison term on the basis that the Bureau of Prisons has medical facilities capable of treating cancer patients, but Judge Lin concluded that sending Walji to a congregate setting would be a “death sentence.”
Walji was arrested on November 10, 2021, after he attempted to sexually assault a teenage girl who was sat next to him on the Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta Hartsfield to Seattle Tacoma.
Toward the end of the five-hour flight, the victim felt Walji’s hand on her thigh as she attempted to sleep. She moved Walji’s hand away and continued to try to sleep but the touching became more aggressive and Walji started to rub her thigh.
Hemmed into the middle seat, the victim had nowhere to go as Walji unbuckled her seatbelt before he reached inside the waistband of her pants and underwear.
The victim, who was sitting beside her mother during this terrifying ordeal, yelled out, causing Walji to stop before flight attendants intervened and the victim and her mother were moved to another row of seats.
Walji was found guilty of Attempted Sexual Abuse of a Minor and Abusive Sexual Contact following a four-day trial last September. Prosecutors had called for Walji to be sentenced to 30 months imprisonment because “he chose to engage in behavior worthy of society’s condemnation.”
In mitigation, Walji’s attorneys told the court that he suffered from “severe persistent health problems” that requires him to take 20 medications per day and that a prison sentence would be potentially life-threatening.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Lin said that a prison sentence was justified but that she was convinced the Bureau of Prisons would be able to provide the medical care that Walji requires.
Figures…it is Washington State!