## Facts

- Regina Kay Garrett, a ticketed passenger on a regularly scheduled commercial commuter flight from New Orleans to Alexandria, Louisiana, attempted to pass airport security with a handbag.
- A security guard observed a suspicious image on the X-ray of Garrett’s bag and conducted a consensual search.
- Security personnel found a Browning .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun in the handbag, loaded with six rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber.
- Garrett stated she had forgotten the gun was in her purse.
- Evidence indicated Garrett was a frequent air traveler; warning signs at the checkpoint prohibited weapons and stated violators would be prosecuted; and Garrett knew bringing a gun through security was unlawful.
- Garrett was charged by information with attempting to board an aircraft with a concealed weapon in violation of 49 U.S.C. App. § 1472(l)(1), tried in a bench trial before a magistrate judge (jury waived), convicted, and sentenced to five years’ probation with a six-month halfway-house condition and a $25 special assessment.
- The district court affirmed, and Garrett appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether 49 U.S.C. App. § 1472(l)(1) applies to an attempt to board a purely intrastate commercial flight.
2. Whether § 1472(l)(1) requires proof of actual knowledge, permits strict liability, or instead requires that the defendant knew or reasonably should have known a weapon was in her possession when attempting to board.
3. Whether an information tracking the statute is defective for failing to allege an implied mens rea element.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence.
- The statute applied to Garrett’s conduct even though the flight was intrastate.
- Section 1472(l)(1) was construed to require proof that the defendant knew or reasonably should have known the weapon was in her possession when attempting to board.
- The evidence supported the finding that Garrett at least should have known the gun was in her purse.
- The information’s failure to plead a mens rea term did not render it fatally defective where it tracked the statute and did not prejudice Garrett’s ability to understand the charge or mount a defense.

## Legal Principles

- Criminal statutes that are silent as to mental state are generally presumed to require some culpability unless Congress clearly indicates strict liability.
- For attempting to board an aircraft with a concealed weapon under 49 U.S.C. App. § 1472(l)(1), the government must prove the defendant knew or reasonably should have known of the weapon’s presence at the time of the boarding attempt.
- The offense is neither strict liability nor limited to cases of actual knowledge.
- An information ordinarily is sufficient when it tracks statutory language; omission of an implied mental-state element is not automatically fatal absent prejudice, particularly when the implied mens rea is less than actual knowledge or specific intent.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit held that the federal aviation provision prohibiting attempts to board with a concealed weapon applies to intrastate commercial flights and requires proof that the defendant knew or reasonably should have known of the weapon, and it affirmed Garrett’s conviction despite the information’s omission of an express mens rea allegation.


United States v. Garrett, 984 F.2d 1402 (5th Cir. 1993)