After the humiliating reversal over the charges to four people accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Reflecting Pool, US attorney and former Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro was lambasted by her cult leader Trump for backing down and saying that the pool fiasco was caused by shoddy and rushed work.

Now, no doubt in an effort to suck up to him, she has brought vandalism charges against a 41-year old homeless woman Melissa Farris for defacing a World War II memorial. As usual, her prosecution team made absurdly exaggerated statements and tried to make out that this was a grave assault on America itself.

“This was a brazen attack on one of the Nation’s most sacred monuments—an enduring symbol of freedom and a solemn tribute to the sacrifice of so many,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles Klug and Samuel Deau wrote in a brief that also carries Pirro’s name in the signature block.

“Rather than honoring the courage and selflessness of the World War II Veterans, Defendant chose to assault that symbol of sacrifice for her own gain and to make a public spectacle,” prosecutors added. “Defendant’s actions are not just criminal, they violate the American values that the Memorial represents.”
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While most vandalism cases get little attention from U.S. attorneys, Pirro posted twice on social media about Farris’ arrest. The prosecutor also said she was personally aggrieved by Farris’ actions.

Yes, we are expected to believe that Pirro was personally aggrieved by this act. Quick, fetch the smelling salts!

But when you read more about Farris and what she actually did, it is clear that this homeless person is disturbed and needs help rather than being thrown into jail.

While prosecutors repeatedly referred to Farris livestreaming and soliciting donations as she spraypainted the memorial, they also acknowledge that when she turned herself in Friday at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, she said she was homeless and that an encounter with police in Washington earlier last week resulted in her being cited for stringing up her hammock in a public park.

The videos Farris streamed online contain rambling grievances against the federal government. Prosecutors say signs she appears to have left at the World War II memorial urged others to call their state and federal representatives about the “Ford green energy grant.”

In one video, she makes a vague complaint about infrastructure, lowers her shorts and appears to urinate on a wall. “I’m pissing on your city,” she says.

Farris is clearly no threat and it looks like the magistrate thought that the prosecutors were over-reaching, rejecting their demand that she be kept in jail and releasing her.

On Monday, a magistrate judge in Washington ordered Melissa Farris, 41, released from custody, rejecting prosecutors’ request that she be kept in jail while she awaits trial on two felony charges. 
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Pirro’s lawyers asked Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh to delay Farris’ release, but he declined to do so, according to court records.

Less than three hours after that hearing concluded, prosecutors from Pirro’s office filed a 30-page appeal, asking Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to overrule the decision. The filing portrays Farris’ alleged actions as grave and contends she poses an “exceptionally high risk of flight.”
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Prosecutors’ appeal of the release order makes a fall-back request to Boasberg if he is unwilling to order Farris’ detention: that she be put on electronic monitoring, such as an ankle bracelet that will indicate her location. However, the same prosecutors argue that she “cannot be reliably supervised” via that technology because she is currently homeless.

Pirro clearly wants an offering to lay at Trump’s feet so that she can get back in his good graces and the hapless Farris had the misfortune to become the sacrificial lamb. Pirro will still have to get a grand jury to indict Farris but, given her awful track record, that is by no means a sure thing even though getting a grand jury to indict is one of the easiest things since the defendant is not allowed to present their side of the case.

I hope that judge Boasberg upholds Farris’ release and that the grand jury refuses to indict on the felony charges that can carry ten-year prison sentences for what should be at most a misdemeanor.

This is yet another case of the justice department abusing its power over ordinary people, in this case a homeless person, just to score political points.