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Wilkinson recounts the death of 19-year-old Jonathan Burton, who was apparently beaten to death by his fellow passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight in August, 2000. Fifteen passengers reportedly restrained and then beat Burton after he tried to break down the door to the plane's cockpit. Early news accounts attributed his death to a heart attack, but an autopsy fingered asphyxiation as the cause of death. Despite these findings, the U.S. attorney's office has decided not to prosecute the passengers who beat him. These passengers say they were only watching out for their own safety and that of other passengers.

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