YOUNGSTOWN – Christopher Wilkinson, 34, of New Middletown will not spend any more time in the Mahoning County jail, Youngstown Municipal Judge Carla Baldwin told the pilot during his plea and sentencing hearing Wednesday.

Wilkinson pleaded guilty during the hearing to inducing panic, a first-degree misdemeanor, for flying too low over Stambaugh Stadium Sept. 28, 2019, during a Youngstown State University football game.

Assistant Youngstown Law Director James Vivo sought to have Wilkinson’s disorderly conduct and unsafe operation of an aircraft charges dismissed, and the judge agreed.

She sentenced him to 180 days in jail but suspended all but the five days ä the five days he already served when Baldwin had him arrested for not showing up for his trial in November.

She also ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine, $100 supervision fee and court costs, perform 30 days of community service and write a letter of apology to the people who attended the football game.

Vivo told the judge he felt dismissing the unsafe operation charge was justified because it was “duplication” of the inducing panic offense, and the overall plea agreement was fair because Wilkinson has a “lack of criminal record” and accepted responsibility. Wilkinson is a commercial pilot, his attorneys have said.

Vivo noted that Wilkinson served five days in jail in November, which Vivo said he thought was “more than adequate” for Wilkinson’s offense.

Wilkinson stood before Baldwin with his two attorneys, Greg Finnerty and Patrick Espinoza. Finnerty told the judge that Wilkinson is a “family man with a bright future,” and Wilkinson “feels terrible” about the incident.

Finnerty described the offense as a “plane ride with a friend, and he was showing off his alma mater. He’s a Youngstown State grad himself. He loves Youngstown State. Obviously he came too close to the football stadium.”

Finnerty said there was “no criminal intent here, though there may have been a measure of foolishness or a lapse in judgment.”

For more on this story, read Thursday’s Vindicator.