Judge Frees WWII Memorial Vandalism Suspect in Another Courtroom Defeat for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro
Key Takeaways
- •Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ordered the release of World War II Memorial vandalism suspect Melissa Farris despite objections from federal prosecutors.
- •Farris, 41, must return to Kentucky under court supervision, is barred from Washington except for court appearances, and faces a Sept. 3 preliminary hearing to determine whether probable cause exists.
- •Sharbaugh refused prosecutors' request to pause the release and has previously dismissed two felony assault cases while warning that cases were being charged before proper investigation.
- •Farris was charged after allegedly spray-painting the memorial and admitting to it on a Facebook livestream, in which she claimed to be a whistleblower.
- •Pirro is separately under pressure from President Trump, who said she 'folded like an umbrella' after she dropped charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool case, with sources saying her job is in question.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro — a former Westchester County, New York, district attorney and longtime Fox News host whom President Donald Trump named to lead the federal prosecutor's office in Washington — suffered another courtroom setback on Monday when Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ordered the release of a World War II Memorial vandalism suspect over the objections of federal prosecutors.
Melissa Farris, 41, was freed and ordered to return to Kentucky under court supervision. She is barred from entering Washington, D.C., except for court appearances, and must stay away from the World War II Memorial. A preliminary hearing in her case is scheduled for Sept. 3, when a judge will weigh whether there is probable cause for the charges to move forward.
The order came from the same magistrate judge who has publicly rebuked Pirro's office over collapsing cases during Trump's federal crime surge in the nation's capital — a push that has routed more local cases through federal court in a city where the U.S. Attorney's office already prosecutes most adult felonies.
Prosecutors asked Sharbaugh to stay — or pause — the release order, but the judge declined, Politico's Josh Gerstein reported.
"Farris will likely be released imminently barring some immediate action by Chief Judge Boasberg in D.C.," Gerstein added, referring to James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Monday's ruling was not Sharbaugh's first rebuke of Pirro's office. The AP reported last fall that he dismissed two felony assault cases at prosecutors' request and warned from the bench that cases were being charged before they were properly investigated.
"That's not the way it's supposed to work, and it has real-world consequences," Sharbaugh said at the time, according to the AP. "This is becoming a real concern for the court just given the sheer numbers," he added.
Pirro is already under pressure from Trump over a separate vandalism case: her decision to drop charges against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation, a project Trump championed.
Trump lashed out at Pirro, saying she had "folded like an umbrella" after she dismissed those charges, the Washington Post reported. In a Truth Social post, Trump added that "U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro should revisit her hastily made decision." Sources told the Post that Pirro's job was in question over the Reflecting Pool dispute.
According to court documents, Pirro brought the WWII Memorial charges after Farris allegedly spray-painted the monument and admitted to it on a Facebook livestream, claiming she was a whistleblower trying to force her case into court.
"I am accountable for the things that I do, and the choices that I make, and our government needs to be accountable for their choices too," Farris said in the video.
Source: Raw Story
