Jeff Sessions' Justice Department to put woman who laughed at him on trial again

A judge had previously dismissed a jury's conviction against her and called for a new trial

Desiree Fairooz was detained and charged with disorderly conduct (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department reportedly intends take a woman who laughed at the now-attorney general back to trial.

Code Pink activist Desiree Fairooz, 61, who was taken into custody after she laughed during Mr Sessions’ confirmation hearing, will go to trial in November for a second time.

“My new trial set to begin Monday, November 13th. I still cannot believe the government refuses to drop this. Vindictive!,” Ms Fairooz tweeted.

In July, a judge had thrown out out a jury’s conviction of Ms Fairooz, finding that the government had improperly argued during the proceedings that her laughter was enough to merit a guilty verdict.

Chief Judge Robert Morin of the Superior Court of DC on Friday said he believed his thoughts on the government’s previous theory of the case had been clear, the Huffington Post reported.

Ms Fairooz had been found guilty in May of charges of disorderly and disruptive conduct and of parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds.

According to the Huffington Post, Ms Fairooz and her lawyer rejected a plea deal offered by the government in which she would have pleaded guilty to one of two charges in exchange for the Justice Department recommending a sentence of time served, Assistant US Attorney Kimberly Paschall said in DC Superior Court on Friday.

Ms Fairooz had been convicted in May along with two other Code Pink activists, Tighe Barry and Lenny Bianchi, who were were dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan as commentary on what the group described as Mr Sessions' racist past.

Each of the three protesters faced up to 12 months in jail, $2,000 in fines, or both.

Ms Fairooz previously told NBC News that Mr Barry and Mr Bianchi avoided jail time but had to pay fines.

In an April court filing, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia had argued that all three protesters shared a common goal to “impede and disrupt” Mr Sessions’ confirmation hearing. Ms Fairooz, the office said, had “created a scene.”

It was early in the January hearing when Republican Senator Richard Shelby said that Mr Sessions’ record of “treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented,” Ariel Gold, the campaign director of Code Pink, told The New York Times in May.

After hearing that, Ms Fairooz said, she let out a giggle.

“In response to this statement, Defendant Fairooz … let out aloud [sic] burst of laughter, followed by a second louder burst of laughter,” according to court documents.

“I just couldn’t hold it,” Ms Fairooz told The Times. “It was spontaneous. It was an immediate rejection of what I considered an outright lie or pure ignorance.”

After Ms Fairooz laughed, officers came over and took her into custody.