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DC woman accused of assaulting agent during ICE encounter found not guilty

https://lemmy.world/post/37475952

DC woman accused of assaulting agent during ICE encounter found not guilty - Lemmy.World

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 [https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.284133/gov.uscourts.dcd.284133.70.0.pdf] 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 [https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/legal/sidney-reid-trial-not-guilty-fbi-agent-ice-arrest-assault-charge-dc-jail/65-fa3b180e-e72f-43d2-ad36-bbcc91fad9d0] reported.

Oct 17, 2025 at 1:40pmWeb
Show threadJumbieOct 17, 2025

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.

Show threadN0t_5ureOct 17, 2025
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.
Show threadReluctantMuskratOct 18, 2025
Yep. Many will feel compelled to take a plea because they don’t have the money to hire an attorney, and court-appointed attorneys are so over-loaded with cases they encourage the plea-route too.
Show threadexplodicleOct 18, 2025
It’s funny how they’ll prosecute people who didn’t do it, because I’ll vote not guilty even if they did do it.
Show threadAbidanYreOct 17, 2025
Kick him harder for real next time. If I’m on the jury it’ll still be a not guilty verdict.
Show threadexplodicleOct 18, 2025
There is literally nothing they can do to ICE for which I will find them guilty.
Show threadccunningOct 17, 2025

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”.

Show threadKirp123Oct 17, 2025
Hey man she had a phone. That’s assault with a deadly weapon.
Show threadCharlesDarwinOct 17, 2025

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.

Show threaddual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️Oct 17, 2025

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.

term of art Definition, Meaning & Usage | Justia Legal Dictionary

term of art - A phrase that has a specific meaning within a certain domain, such as in legal practice

Show threadCarmakaziOct 17, 2025
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.
Show threadchillpanzeeOct 17, 2025

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.

Show threaddhorkOct 17, 2025
  • 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.

Show threadDionysusOct 17, 2025
Just wait until they start moving the cases to Alabama because *they can’t get a fair trial in DC. *
Show threadanomnomOct 18, 2025
You mean like how they ship people arrested in Vermont, to Louisiana for immigration court, even though there is one in Vermont?
Show threadOptionalOct 17, 2025

Cripes you can smell the whiskey coming off that photo.

That ain’t right.

Show threadTuffNutzesOct 17, 2025
Please put me on any jury where Trump regime goons assault someone and then charges them with assault. Please.
Show threadyesmanOct 17, 2025

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.

Show threadCosmicTurtle0 [he/him]Oct 17, 2025
Show threadNutWrenchOct 18, 2025
Yup. Whenever you see a cop yell “Stop Resisting!” on a body cam video at someone who is clearly NOT resisting, it’s because they’re putting on a show for the camera. And there are jurors dumb enough to fall for it.
Show threadBuffaloxOct 17, 2025
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?
Show threadcorsicanguppyOct 17, 2025
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.
Show threadexplodicleOct 18, 2025
The problem with ICE is that it exists.