By Allan Lengel
It is likely a sign that D.C. federal prosecutors had tried overcharging a woman.
The New York Times reports that federal prosecutors failed on three occasions to convince a grand jury to indict Sidney Lori Reid on a felony charge of assaulting an FBI agent during a protest against immigration officials in Washington. On Monday, prosecutors reduced the charges to a low-level misdemeanor.
The Times noted, “it is highly unusual for prosecutors to fail even once — let alone three times — to obtain an indictment from a grand jury, given the way the process is stacked in favor of the government.”
“Three grand juries have now declined to indict Ms. Reid for felony assault on a law enforcement officer,” her lawyers, Tezira Abe and Eugene Ohm, said in a statement on Monday evening. “The U.S. attorney can try to concoct crimes to quiet the people, but in our criminal justice system, the citizens have the last word. We are anxious to present the misdemeanor case to a jury and to quickly clear Ms. Reid’s name.”
The Times reports that Reid was accused last month in a criminal complaint of having forcibly assaulted, impeded or interfered with federal agents as they sought to transfer two alleged gang members into F.B.I. custody at the local jail in Washington. Under federal procedure, the government then has 30 days to secure an indictment from a grand jury for the charges to move forward — unless the defendant chooses to plead guilty.
D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News personality, has issued a directive to charge the most serious crimes possible in each case in federal court.
