Prosecutor Jeanine Pirro failed to secure a felony indictment against the woman three times, then lost a jury trial on a misdemeanor charge. Ouch.

A Washington, D.C., woman accused of assaulting a federal agent was found not guilty by a jury on Thursday, the latest embarrassment for Jeanine Pirro, President Donald Trump’s U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Prosecutors had alleged Sidney Lori Reid kicked a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent during an altercation outside the D.C. Jail in July. Reid had been filming Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers while they were detaining a man who’d just been released from the jail.

Pirro’s office tried three times to indict Reid on a felony assault charge, but D.C. grand juries declined to return an indictment each time — a highly unusual occurrence that suggested the flimsiness of the government’s case.

After whiffing on the felony counts, prosecutors ended up trying Reid on a misdemeanor charge of assaulting or impeding a federal agent — but they couldn’t even win that case. The jury deliberated for less than two hours on Thursday before returning the verdict of not guilty, WUSA9 reported.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Ever notice how in court that pigs are always described as giant cowards? They’re constantly terrified of how a woman flails as she’s thrown to the ground or get PTSD when protesters shine bright flashlights at them.

    I’m convinced that final exams at the police academy is a mock courtroom where the recruit has to testify “your honor, I was scared for my life”. Bonus points if you cry.

  • Jumbie@lemmy.zip
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    15 hours ago

    She was never guilty. Accusing her and dragging her through the courts — further victimization — is a method of intimidation to other protesters.

    It’s the same tactic being used against Dotard’s political opponents as he “indicts” them.

    • N0t_5ure@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      This is exactly it. It costs a lot of money to hire attorneys and time, effort, and aggravation to fight charges. As a consequence, this weaponization of the justice system serves to chill the exercise of constitutional rights.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Way to go Jeanine Pirro, working to prove herself for the Nazis, and being a Nazi, before becoming the next Nazi victim.
    How fucking stupid are these idiots?

  • ccunning@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    Prosecutors argued that though there was no contact, a jerk movement that Reid made with her knee near Bates’ groin during that struggle constitutes simple assault

    On the one hand, many folks don’t realize Assault is the threat; Battery is the execution of the threat.

    But over here in reality, this is like saying, “I feel threatened by women existing and that is assault”.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Many folks don’t realize because the common usage doesn’t work that way, and to muddy the waters further the laws are written in many jurisdictions such that “assault” is used as a legal term of art which requires some manner of physical contact between the perpetrator and victim. DC specifically treats assault and threats of bodily harm separately, (source) but the penalties are the same and in fact refer to the same paragraph anyhow, so the net difference in this case is kind of moot.

      In some jurisdictions there is no such thing as “battery,” and assault is the attack while threatening is the threat. This may or may not have something to do with dumbing down the wording at some point for the layman. I’m not a lawyer despite the occasional insinuation to the contrary, so I’m not qualified to speak on that possibility.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      I wonder if there was near this level of concern for Tina Peters - seems she was trying to kick the officer when she was being arrested.

      Meanwhile, dumpty trumpty was trying to lean on Colorado to have that POS released. And she tried to steal a fucking election.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    11 hours ago

    Bodycams. They make a huge difference. It’s keeping the bastards honest and showing what people said, how they said it, what they were waving about, and when.

  • dhork@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago
    • Soap Box
    • Ballot Box
    • Jury Box <-- We Are Here
    • Ammo Box

    There a reason why the Constitution explicitly spells out the right to a trial by a jury of the accused’s peers, both in the document itself and the sixth amendment. It acts as an effective check on the government, because it helps to ensure the government can’t just jail people because it wants to.

    • Dionysus@leminal.space
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      13 hours ago

      Just wait until they start moving the cases to Alabama because they can’t get a fair trial in DC.

  • TuffNutzes@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Please put me on any jury where Trump regime goons assault someone and then charges them with assault. Please.

  • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    Kick him harder for real next time. If I’m on the jury it’ll still be a not guilty verdict.

  • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    They used to say “you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich” but these sleazeballs can’t even do that. It’s not just this case or this jurisdiction, too.

    • chillpanzee@lemmy.ml
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      7 hours ago

      I think the phrase is “any good prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.”

      That’s probably still as true as it ever was. And leaves open the possibility that Pirro is just a bombastic idiot; not a good prosecutor.