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elleng

(130,126 posts)
Wed May 3, 2017, 01:13 PM May 2017

Is It a Crime to Laugh at a Congressional Hearing? A Jury Decided. edited

* A jury on Wednesday convicted a Virginia woman who was charged with disrupting the confirmation hearing of Jeff Sessions as attorney general after she laughed during the proceeding.

The woman, Desiree A. Fairooz, an activist with the group Code Pink, was found guilty of the two charges she faced: disorderly conduct and parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds.

A jury returned a verdict shortly after noon on Wednesday. A two-day trial in United States Superior Court in Washington ended on Tuesday.

Ms. Fairooz, 61, of Bluemont, Va., said she was “really disappointed.” She said her lawyer, Samuel A. Bogash, would file post-trial motions seeking to set the verdict aside. She said it was too early to discuss an appeal.

“We’ll face that music when we get to that,” said Ms. Fairooz, who faces up to 12 months in prison. She added that she was undeterred and would continue to protest.*

**They were acquitted on a count of disorderly conduct but were convicted on two separate charges of parading or demonstrating, Mr. Barry said.**

'The case of a woman who was arrested after laughing during the confirmation hearing of Jeff Sessions as attorney general was in the hands of a jury on Wednesday morning.

A two-day trial in United States Superior Court in Washington ended on Tuesday in the case of the woman, Desiree A. Fairooz, an activist with the group Code Pink.

Ms. Fairooz, 61, of Bluemont, Va., was charged with disorderly conduct and parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds.

It was early in the Jan. 10 hearing when Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama, said that Mr. Sessions’s record of “treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented,” Ariel Gold, the campaign director of Code Pink, said on Wednesday. . .

Ms. Gold, who was at the hearing, described the noise Ms. Fairooz made as a “reflexive gasp” that was no more loud than a cough. “I would barely call it a laugh,” she said.

Ms. Fairooz said the noise was not intended to disrupt the hearing, which had formally been called to order.

“None of us planned to get arrested,” said Ms. Fairooz, who attended the hearing dressed in pink as Lady Liberty and carrying a sign. “We just wanted to be a visible symbol of dissent.”'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/code-pink-sessions-laughter-trial.html?

16 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Is It a Crime to Laugh at a Congressional Hearing? A Jury Decided. edited (Original Post) elleng May 2017 OP
Laugh at Sessions...get arrested Nwgirl503 May 2017 #1
Too much truth in this. Authoritarianism ascendant on the right. Hortensis May 2017 #10
Just how chickenshit can they get? TreasonousBastard May 2017 #2
There is no limit for them....nt 2naSalit May 2017 #4
Classic example of standing on a brick. . . DinahMoeHum May 2017 #3
If she loses, we are finished. louis-t May 2017 #5
The verdict is in, she lost. n/t PoliticAverse May 2017 #6
I'm rather shocked that a DC jury voted to convict fescuerescue May 2017 #7
So am I surprised. elleng May 2017 #8
I think Fairooz was convicted on all the charges against her; the 2 men arrested earlier muriel_volestrangler May 2017 #14
charges of parading or demonstrating, wtf kind of law is that ? Ohioblue22 May 2017 #9
Pretty sickening. GoCubsGo May 2017 #11
Perjury is not a crime ProudLib72 May 2017 #12
Classic example of having your fate decided by... MindPilot May 2017 #13
Followup: jurors say they convicted due to her post-laughter conduct. PoliticAverse May 2017 #15
Interesting, and kind of good to see. elleng May 2017 #16

louis-t

(23,199 posts)
5. If she loses, we are finished.
Wed May 3, 2017, 01:25 PM
May 2017

As we get closer and closer to dictatorship, it then becomes a crime to disagree with stupid fuck drumpf.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,146 posts)
14. I think Fairooz was convicted on all the charges against her; the 2 men arrested earlier
Wed May 3, 2017, 03:06 PM
May 2017

were partly acquitted:

Fairooz was found guilty of disrupting Congress and parading/demonstrating on Wednesday afternoon, according to U.S. Attorney spokesman Bill Miller. Barry and Bianchi were each found guilty of parading/demonstrating and unlawful display but were found not guilty of disrupting Congress.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/activist-faces-jail-time-laughing-during-sessions-hearing-n754326

 

MindPilot

(12,693 posts)
13. Classic example of having your fate decided by...
Wed May 3, 2017, 03:05 PM
May 2017

twelve people too stupid to get out of jury duty.

PoliticAverse

(26,366 posts)
15. Followup: jurors say they convicted due to her post-laughter conduct.
Thu May 4, 2017, 05:17 AM
May 2017

...

Several jurors who spoke with HuffPost after the verdict emphasized that they were focused on Fairooz’s actions after a rookie Capitol Police officer approached Fairooz when she laughed at Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-Ala.) claim that Sessions had a clear, well-documented and “extensive record of treating all Americans equally under the law.” A group of jurors spoke to HuffPost on the condition of anonymity.

“She did not get convicted for laughing. It was her actions as she was being asked to leave,” the jury foreperson said.

...

The jurors indicated they felt they had to convict Fairooz because of the way the laws are written, with yet another juror describing them as “so broad.”

At least three jurors said it was fair to say they felt forced into convicting her. “There’s almost no way that you can find them not guilty,” one said.

Read the whole article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeff-sessions-laugh-congressional-hearing_us_590929bbe4b05c39768420ef

elleng

(130,126 posts)
16. Interesting, and kind of good to see.
Thu May 4, 2017, 01:12 PM
May 2017

I too served on a DC (Federal case) jury some years ago. Different from here, we wanted to convict (a con guy, re: 9/11 behavior,) an unsavory character, but due to the law and failure of the (inexperienced) prosecutor to prove her case, we did a 'not guilty.' Here, sounds like conscientious jury did what it should have done. The big issue: Why the heck did the government prosecute? Should NOT have done so, imo.

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