A federal jury has found a California man guilty of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl that was sitting next to him during a redeye flight to Orlando.
On Friday, June 23, a federal jury convicted Brian Patrick Durning, 52, of assault of a minor on an aircraft and two counts of simple assault. The conviction comes almost exactly one year since the incident that took place aboard a Delta flight bound for the Orlando International Airport last year.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Durning, who is from Altadena, boarded a redeye flight from Los Angeles to Orlando at 11:36 PST on June 23, 2022.
Durning was seated in the seat next to the aisle, while a 13-year-old girl who had been separated from the rest of her family was seated in the middle seat, next to Durning.
According to the victim, after the flight took off, Durning ordered and consumed an alcoholic drink before coughing and sneezing on the victim. At some point thereafter, Durning then began to touch the victim’s hair and neck, and tried to put his arm around the victim.
Durning then reached over with his right hand to touch the victim’s inner left thigh, moving her thigh toward him and calling her “honey-boo.” At that point, he moved his hand up her inner thigh, toward her groin area, and pushed his “finger into her vagina, over her clothing,” according to the original arrest affidavit.
A passenger seated in the window seat next to the victim awoke a short time thereafter and looked toward the aisle. When the passenger did this, she saw Durning quickly move his right hand away from inside the victim’s thigh.
The passenger asked the victim “did he touch you,” and the victim confirmed that Durning had. The passenger says that the victim then began shaking and crying and she offered to switch seats with the victim.
The passenger then called for a flight attendant to notify the victim’s mother. While alerting the mother, the passenger told Durning not to talk to the victim, at which point he tried to touch the passenger’s breasts.
The victim’s mother says she looked back after being called upon and saw the victim mouth the words “he touched me” to her. At that time, the mother stood up, exited her seat, and confronted Durning. When she arrived at Durning’s seat, she noticed that his pants were unzipped.
Durning an interview with Durning, he told authorities that he had “one to two beers” in the airport before boarding the flight in Los Angeles. He told police that during the light, he took an Ambien pill and had one glass of white wine. Durning told police that he fell asleep and stated that the next thing he remembered was someone waking him up and asking him to switch seats.
Durning was indicted last year and now faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison on the first offense, and up to two years in prison on the second offense. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 26, 2023.