The US attorney’s office in Washington, DC, that’s run by Donald Trump-appointee Jeanine Pirro has struggled to secure a grand jury’s approval of at least one indictment in federal court this month, in an indication of possible issues arising with the office’s crackdown on crime.
In one case this month — related to an FBI agent and an immigration officer allegedly scrapping with a detainee — the federal grand jury in Washington voted “no” three times.
The court record doesn’t say why the grand jury refused to approve the felony assault charge against DC resident Sydney Lori Reid each time it was presented over the past month, after she was arrested in late July for assaulting or impeding federal officers.
Grand jury indictments are infamously easy to secure – and it is exceedingly rare for a grand jury to refuse to approve an indictment prosecutors present.
In the federal system, a prosecutor must show the grand jury enough evidence for there to be probable cause of a crime, and they only need at least 12 grand jurors out of anywhere between 16 and 23 on the confidential panel to vote to indict.
However, the grand jury’s repeated refusal in Reid’s case comes as the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to law enforcement, especially with the federal takeover of policing in the city, has come under intense scrutiny.
Pirro’s office has also pushed in recent weeks for charging defendants in Washington with tougher crimes, especially in cases where a felony could be charged rather than a lesser misdemeanor and when the cases relate to assaulting police. Critics of the policy changes in Washington’s legal community have said the approach may lead to more charging of weaker cases that may not survive scrutiny in the justice system.
Instead of the felony Pirro’s office had pushed for, Reid will be charged with a misdemeanor, prosecutors told the judge on Monday afternoon.
Posted by John3262005
7 Comments
Lmao aren’t these indictments easy to get? Total failure, not surprising from a suck-up appointee
Get fucked judge jeanine
Its even funnier when you realize grand jury indictments are basically the easiest thing to achieve in the justice system
lmfao they just failed to get an indictment on the sandwich guy too
Glad a jury can see when a charge is political nonsense instead of justified by any actual law breaking.
However – the process is the punishment. This defendant still had to spend time, money, and stress to get to this point.
And even now it’s likely not done. They can charge her with a misdemeanor and continue their prosecution.
“so much so that the hand of an FBI agent who had tried to help during the fight scratched a cement wall.”
My pookie bear FBI agent got a wittle boo-boo 🥺
Was hoping this was for the Subway Sandwich Warrior