Jurisdiction To Be Determined Next Week

After a year of legal arguments, a judge is expected to determine which court should hear the case involving a drone that was shot down in Kentucky, and the decision could have national implications.

The owner of the drone is David Boggs, whose neighbor, William Merideth, admits to shooting down Boggs' $1,800 drone with a shotgun. Merideth has gone so far as to dub himself the "Droneslayer".

Merideth says the aircraft was flying low over his property and capturing images of his family. Boggs counters that he was flying at about 200 feet over a public street in a residential area.

The case is currently being heard in District Court, where Kentucky District Court Judge Rebecca Ward ruled last October ruled that Meredith "had a right to shoot at the aircraft" and dismissed criminal charges against him.

The Thomas Reuters Foundation reports that the underlying legal case may well be who controls the airspace below 500 feet AGL. A District Court  decision on that issue will not have any legal binding on federal courts. But if either side appeals the eventual decision, a higher court ruling could have federal implications.

FMI: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2674191/001-Complaint-for-Declaratory-Judgment-and.pdf