On Friday, a Washington, D.C., judge threw out a jury’s guilty verdict for Desiree Fairooz, the 61-year-old woman convicted of disorderly and disruptive conduct and demonstrating inside the Capitol for laughing during Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing.
Fairooz laughed during the January hearing after Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) stated that Sessions had a clear record of “treating all Americans equally under the law.” She was immediately arrested.
Chief Judge Robert Morin of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia ruled that the prosecutors’ argument—that the laughter in and of itself warranted a conviction—was improper, and that laughter alone would not be sufficient evidence to submit the case to a jury. Jurors, however, told HuffPost that it was her actions after her arrest that led them to a guilty verdict.
A new trial is set for September.
