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I would think that the judge would take it into account when pronouncing sentence - I haven't read the specific law, but accidental versus intentional doesn't mean you are not guilty of something.
My experience is that a plane close enough to be affected would normally be heard. I guess an exception would be in high winds, but who is out gazing in those conditions. A second point is that I don't see why the laser would be on while one is intently observing or imaging. Normally one is looking at the sky at that time and should observe the plane approaching your beam in time to turn off or direct it elsewhere.
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