A Washington judge on Friday threw out the conviction of a protester who was arrested after laughing during Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Senate confirmation hearing in January.
Desiree Fairooz, 61, was attending the hearing with other members of the progressive activist group Code Pink when she laughed loudly after Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said that Sessions’ record of “treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented.”
She was arrested by Capitol Police, a moment captured on video by Huffpost where she appears to be protesting and questioning her arrest.
Two other Code Pink activists, Lenny Bianchi and Tighe Barry, were also arrested that day.
Another protester escorted out of Sessions hearing. Her original offense appeared to be simply laughing. pic.twitter.com/p6lWzBVFRW
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 10, 2017
In a previous court filing, prosecutors said Fairooz grew “loud and more disruptive” when officers “attempted to quietly escort” her from the room. Fairooz, the government alleged, “created a scene after scoffing at Senator Shelby’s comments and then yelling that Senator Sessions’ voting record was ‘evil,’ while simultaneously waving a sign that read: ‘support civil right stop sessions.'”
Judge Robert Morin, the chief judge of the D.C. Superior Court, threw out a previous conviction for Fairooz and ordered a retrial for September.
He said it was “disconcerting” that the government argued that Fairooz’s laughing not her reaction to being removed from the courtroom was sufficient to find her guilty.
“The court is concerned about the government’s theory,” Morin said.
In May, Fairooz was found guilty of two misdemeanor charges of unlawful conduct on Capitol grounds and faced up to six months in jail.
