U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro suffered another courtroom setback when Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh freed a WWII Memorial vandalism suspect over prosecutors’ objections.
Melissa Farris, 41, was released Monday and ordered to return to Kentucky under court supervision. She is barred from entering Washington except for court appearances and must stay away from the World War II Memorial. A preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 3.
The ruling came from the same judge who has publicly rebuked Pirro’s office for collapsing cases during President Donald Trump’s federal crime surge in the capital.
Prosecutors asked Sharbaugh to stay — or pause — the release order, Politico’s Josh Gerstein reported. But the judge declined.
“Farris will likely be released imminently barring some immediate action by Chief Judge Boasberg in D.C.,” Gerstein added.
Sharbaugh ordered Farris to stay out of Washington — except for court appearances — and to remain away from the memorial she is accused of damaging, Gerstein reported.
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 facing pressure from President Donald 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.
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