A Washington man who was accused of aiming a laser pointer at Marine One, the presidential helicopter, as it was leaving the White House in September with President Trump aboard was acquitted on Tuesday, according to court documents.
A jury found the man, Jacob Samuel Winkler, 33, not guilty after just 35 minutes of deliberation, lawyers representing Mr. Winkler said.
Alexis Gardner, a federal public defender for Mr. Winkler, called the case “a clear example of misuse of prosecutorial discretion.”
She said federal resources were spent charging a man “whose alleged weapon was a cat toy key chain,” adding that it was “time and money diverted from real public safety threats.”
“Their verdict confirmed what should have been obvious from the start: Mr. Winkler committed no crime, and this prosecution was an unjust exercise of power,” she added.
Federal prosecutors who tried the case did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Mr. Winkler was arrested in September and charged with pointing a laser at an aircraft, a federal felony. When a laser pointer reaches a cockpit, the light can disorient or “completely incapacitate” a pilot, the Federal Aviation Administration has said.
According to a criminal complaint, Mr. Winkler was standing on the sidewalk on Constitution Avenue when a uniformed Secret Service officer saw him shine a red laser beam at the president’s helicopter, which was flying at a low altitude during its initial ascent from the South grounds of the White House.
Mr. Trump was traveling to Virginia to give a speech.
The complaint said Mr. Winkler had also pointed the laser at the uniformed Secret Service officer before directing it at the helicopter.
Mr. Winkler appeared to have done so in retaliation for the officer pointing his flashlight at him, according to the complaint, which said that the officer was trying to observe him because he was being loud, talking to himself and did not have a shirt on.
After the jury’s verdict, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ordered Mr. Winkler acquitted, discharged and any bond exonerated, according to court records.
The verdict represented a setback for Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, who has adopted the administration’s aggressive approach to combating street crime in the city and on those who defy federal crackdowns.
In November, a jury acquitted a man charged with misdemeanor assault after throwing a sandwich at an armed federal officer.
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