Hey Desperate Times, this is Desperate Measures. Desperate Measures, this is Desperate Times.

[ck4829]

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said the text messages sent by FBI Agent Eugenia Bates were “highly relevant” to questions of bias attorneys for Sidney Lori Reid should be able to raise at trial.

The case, which goes before a jury beginning Oct. 14, will be one of the first tests of whether U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office can secure convictions on charges related to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and federal surge in D.C. Reid is facing a single misdemeanor count of assault after federal grand juries declined three times to indict her on a more serious felony charge.

Reid’s case was the first in a continuing and extraordinarily rare wave of grand jury rejections. Grand juries have also refused to indict a former Justice Department paralegal accused of throwing a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer and a lawyer accused of assaulting members of the National Guard, among others. Prosecutors have additionally dropped or downgraded felony charges in several other cases in lieu of going before a grand jury.

In court filings, Pirro’s office has expressed repeated concerns about jury nullification – a decision by jurors not to indict or convict not because they believe the defendant has not broken the law, but because they believe the law, or the prosecutor who filed the charges, are wrong. Prosecutors said in a filing Tuesday the case was at a “heightened risk” of nullification. Reid’s attorneys, for their part, have said they have no intention of attempting to persuade the jury to pursue nullification.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/crime/highly-relevant-judge-will-allow-fbi-agents-texts-disparaging-alleged-assailant-at-trial-grand-jury-no-bill-indictment-trump-surge-immigration-ice/65-4480c64f-76da-45ff-b62d-56ffcbdf8df5

In a country facing democratic backsliding, encroaching authoritarianism, and an ethics-challenged Supreme Court rotting the legal system starting from the top going down; we need something on our side regardless of which party has the majority.

Jury Nullification:
* Know it
* Say it... outside of the courtroom
* Google it
* And be prepared to use it

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Deadline Legal Blog-Not guilty verdict in ICE case sends stark message to Trump DOJ's political prosecutions

It’s not only grand jurors who have rejected the Trump administration’s charges. A trial jury just did the same.

TACO and his minion’s frivolous prosecutions are failing left and right (pun intended).

Not guilty verdict in ICE case sends stark message to Trump DOJ’s political prosecutions www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...

— Keith Nelson (@msahara.bsky.social) 2025-10-17T18:14:17.538Z

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/sidney-reid-not-guilty-verdict-ice-trump-doj-rcna238137

There’s already a stunning pattern of grand jurors rejecting indictments sought by the Justice Department in President Donald Trump’s second term — specifically when it comes to allegations of assaulting law enforcement in connection with protests against the administration’s abuses of power. As time goes on, we’ll learn what trial jurors think of the politically motivated cases that make it that far.

We got a prime example Thursday in the case of Sidney Reid, who was acquitted in Washington, D.C.

Grand jurors had declined to approve a felony indictment against her a shocking three times. But instead of taking those serial rejections as a sign of serious problems with the case (a rare failure to get past even one grand jury should’ve done that), the DOJ in Jeanine Pirro’s office moved forward with a misdemeanor prosecution, which didn’t require grand jury approval. Law enforcement had alleged that Reid “forcefully pushed” an FBI agent’s hand against a cement wall and “caused lacerations” on the agent’s hand during an immigration enforcement protest.

Powerful statements from Reid and her lawyers following the not guilty verdict frame the stakes in her case — and in Trump’s second term more broadly. She said the verdict “shows that this administration and their peons are not able to invoke fear in all citizens.” Calling the president “a crazy person,” she said she even felt sorry for the prosecutors, “who must be burdened by Trump’s irrational and unfounded hatred for his fellow man.” Her lawyers, Tezira Abe and Eugene Ohm of the federal public defender’s office, said the DOJ “can continue to take these cases to trial to suppress dissent and to try and intimidate the people. But in the end, as long as we have a jury system, our citizens will continue to rebuke the DOJ through speedy acquittals.”

Wow. Sidney Reid, the DC woman just found not guilty of assaulting an FBI agent, issues a withering and gutsy statement on Trump through her attorneys.

"I feel sorry for the prosecutors really, who must be burdened by Trump's irrational and unfounded hatred for his fellow man."

It's a must-read:

— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson.bsky.social) 2025-10-16T21:34:12.919Z

In another notable case, in which D.C. grand jurors refused to approve felony charges against sandwich thrower Sean Dunn, prosecutors are also moving forward with a misdemeanor case after failing to get an indictment. Ahead of his potential trial, this week Dunn filed a motion to dismiss the misdemeanor assault charge based on vindictive and selective prosecution......

While the standard to secure indictments is relatively low — making the failure to get them in several cases this year so remarkable — prosecutors must convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt in any case that makes it to trial. Reid’s acquittal is a message to the administration — and to the lawyers trying these cases — that it’s one thing to get past (or in Reid’s case, around) a grand jury, but trial juries can stand in the way of convictions for bogus or weak charges