Judge overturns conviction of woman who laughed at Sessions: report

A judge has overturned the conviction of a woman who prosecutors said disrupted the confirmation hearing for Attorney General Jeff Sessions by laughing, according to the Huffington Post.

Desiree Fairooz, an activist with the group Code Pink, was convicted in May on charges of disrupting Sessions' Jan. 10 hearing. Two more women, Tighe Barry and Lenny Bianchi, who appeared at the hearing dressed as Ku Klux Klan members, will be sentenced on the same day after being convicted on charges of parading or demonstrating.

Fairooz was to be sentenced today and faced up to 12 months in prison.

Chief Judge Robert E. Morin of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, however, today "tossed out the guilty verdict because the government had argued that the laugh in and of itself was enough to warrant a guilty verdict," according to the Huffington Post.

"Morin said it was "disconcerting" that the government made the case in closing arguments that the laughter in and of itself was sufficient.

"The court is concerned about the government's theory," Morin said. He said the laughter "would not be sufficient" to submit the case to the jury, and said the government hadn't made clear before the trial that it intended to make that argument.

Morin set a new trial date for September 1.