A Washington, D.C. jury delivered a swift not guilty verdict on Tuesday for a man accused of aiming a laser beam at Marine One, the presidential helicopter carrying then-President Donald Trump. The jury deliberated for a mere 35 minutes before clearing Jacob Winkler of the felony charge.
A Swift Acquittal and Scrutinized Prosecution
Jacob Winkler, 33, was arrested in September after a U.S. Secret Service agent reported seeing a red laser beam directed at the low-flying helicopter shortly after it left the White House grounds. The charge of pointing a laser at an aircraft carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, a Trump appointee and former Fox News personality, had vowed to prosecute Winkler "to the fullest extent of the law." However, the rapid acquittal marks another setback for her office, which has pursued a series of cases alleging assaults on federal agents or threats against the president.
Defense Decries 'Policing Poverty'
Winkler's public defenders, Alexis Gardner and Ubong Akpan, issued a statement following the verdict, calling the prosecution a waste of resources. They described their client as "a homeless man with nothing but a cat toy keychain" and argued the case exposed a "disturbing reality."
"Every hour spent on this case was an hour not spent addressing real threats to our community," the attorneys stated. "We need to stop policing poverty and start investing in dignity." The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
A Pattern of Questionable Cases
This acquittal fits a pattern of cases brought by Pirro's office that have struggled to hold up in court. Following Trump's declaration of a crime emergency and deployment of the National Guard in D.C. last summer, her office filed a slew of charges related to alleged assaults on federal agents or threats against the former president.
Critics argue these cases were designed to bolster the appearance of a crime crackdown. However, many have quickly fallen apart, resulting in acquittals or failing to even secure grand jury indictments, while consuming court resources and causing defendants significant hardship.
Notable examples include:
- A case where a man was charged with threatening to kill Trump after a drunken arrest for damaging a light fixture; affidavits suggested he was speaking nonsense in custody.
- A high-profile case where a D.C. man was charged with assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent by hitting him with a Subway turkey sandwich. A grand jury declined to indict on a felony, and a subsequent misdemeanor charge also ended in acquittal.
One defense attorney bluntly told HuffPost such cases were "horseshit" and served primarily to inflate statistics and exaggerate the perception of crime in the district. The rapid acquittal of Jacob Winkler has now become a focal point for this ongoing criticism of prosecutorial priorities under Jeanine Pirro.
