The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., led by Donald Trump-appointee Jeanine Pirro, has had trouble getting a grand jury to approve at least one indictment this month. This could show problems with the office’s tough approach to crime.
In one case involving an FBI agent and an immigration officer who allegedly had a run-in with a detainee, the Washington federal grand jury voted “no” three times.
Court records do not explain why the grand jury refused to approve the felony assault charge against D.C. resident Sydney Lori Reid each time it was presented. Reid was arrested in late July for allegedly assaulting or interfering with federal officers.
Getting grand jury indictments is usually easy, and it’s very rare for a grand jury to refuse an indictment.
“We are the tip of the spear. We are the ones who take these cases into court, and the burden is on us to prove these cases. And we welcome that burden beyond a reasonable doubt,” U.S. Attorney Pirro said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, when asked about the grand jury’s refusal in Reid’s case.
“Sometimes a jury will buy it and sometimes they won’t. So be it,” Pirro added. “That’s the way the process works.”
In the federal system, a prosecutor must give the grand jury enough evidence to show probable cause for a crime. At least 12 grand jurors out of 16 to 23 need to vote to indict.
The grand jury’s repeated refusal comes as the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to law enforcement, including the federal takeover of policing in D.C., has faced intense scrutiny.
Pirro’s office has also recently pushed for tougher charges in Washington, especially in cases where a felony could be filed instead of a misdemeanor, particularly in assaults on police. Critics say this approach might lead to weaker cases that may not hold up in court.
For the case that the grand jury didn’t approve, prosecutors wanted to indict Reid, who court filings say is a gang member, for assaulting an officer in July.
“An indictment has not been returned in this case,” Pirro’s office wrote in a public filing on Monday. “As was previously disclosed by the Court to defense counsel, a third grand jury returned a no true bill.”
Instead of the felony, Reid will now face a misdemeanor charge, prosecutors told the judge on Monday.
Reid’s lawyers, Tezira Abe and Eugene Ohm from the federal public defender’s office, said on Tuesday: “Three grand juries have now declined to indict Ms. Reid for felony assault on a law enforcement officer … 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.”
Reid has been appearing before a magistrate judge in D.C.’s federal court since her arrest while awaiting the indictment. With the misdemeanor charge, she can now enter a plea without grand jury approval.
Pirro’s office told CNN about the failure to get a felony indictment: “In spite of that a United States magistrate judge held there was probable cause that a felony assault on a federal officer had occurred.”
Investigators wrote in arrest papers that Reid struggled with the immigration officer, “flailing her arms and kicking and had to be pinned against a cement wall,” causing an FBI agent’s hand to scratch the wall while trying to help.
Reid’s attorneys argued that federal prosecutors did not have enough evidence to show intent for a felony charge.
