Judge to Sentence Hijacker Who Flew Plane to Cuba

An American who returned from Cuba decades after hijacking a jetliner to the communist island is set to be sentenced in South Florida federal court.
 
Prosecutors are seeking at least 20 years for William Potts Jr. for the 1984 hijacking of a passenger plane on its way from Miami to New York and flying it to Cuba. The 57-year-old pleaded guilty in May.
 
Potts is asking a federal judge Thursday to take into account the 15 years he has already served in a Cuban prison for the crime. Potts returned to the U.S. because he said he wanted to resolve his case. He also has children in the U.S.
 
The FBI says the New Jersey native identified himself at the time as a black militant and claimed in a note to a flight attendant that he planned to blow up the flight.