A former Alaska Airlines pilot who attempted to shut down a plane’s engines during an off-duty ride in the cockpit after consuming psychedelic mushrooms will avoid prison, as a judge decided on Monday.

In Portland, Oregon, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio sentenced Joseph Emerson to time already served and placed him under supervised release for three years. Emerson had entered a guilty plea to the charges in September, following an agreement with state and federal prosecutors. Prosecutors at the federal level had recommended a one-year prison sentence.

“Pilots are not perfect. They are human,” remarked Judge Baggio. “They are people, and all people need help sometimes.”

Joseph David Emerson, pictured during an indictment hearing in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, Oregon, on December 7, 2023, expressed remorse for his actions prior to his sentencing. (Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP)

Before hearing his sentence, Emerson spoke, saying he regretted his actions. 

“I’m not a victim. I am here as a direct result of my actions,” he told the court. “I can tell you that this very tragic event has forced me to grow as an individual.”

Emerson was a passenger on the Oct. 22, 2023 Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco when he was subdued by the flight crew. 

He was sitting in an extra seat in the cockpit at the time aboard Flight 2059, which was carrying 84 people. The plane was eventually diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.

At the time, Emerson, a California resident, told authorities that he was grieving a friend’s death and had taken psychedelic mushrooms around two days earlier. In addition, he said he had gone more than 40 hours without sleep. 

Joseph David Emerson, 44, is arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Tues., Oct. 24, 2023. Emerson, a pilot, is accused of attempting to disable the engines of a plane on which he was riding while off-duty last Sunday. (Dave Killen/Pool)

Believing he was dreaming, he said he pulled the two red handles that would have activated the plane’s fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.

“It was only through the heroic actions of the flight crew, who were able to physically restrain the defendant and restore normal operations of the aircraft, that no lives were lost that day,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. 

Emerson was federally charged with interfering with a flight crew. In Oregon, he was charged with 83 counts of endangering another person and one of endangering an aircraft.

Alaska Airlines confirmed the incident took place on one of its flights in Seattle, Washington. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

In state court, he received a 50-day jail sentence with credit for time served and five years’ probation. He was also sentenced to five years of probation, 664 hours of community service – eight hours for each person he endangered – and ordered to pay over $60,000 in restitution, nearly all of it to Alaska Air Group.