Case dropped, home detention lifted for Lafayette woman accused of threatening Trump
Plus, a morning in court in the SK hynix rezoning lawsuits
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CASE DROPPED, HOME DETENTION LIFTED FOR LAFAYETTE WOMAN ACCUSED OF THREATENING PRESIDENT TRUMP, AFTER GRAND JURY DELIVERS NO INDICTMENT
Federal prosecutors last week dropped charges against Nathalie Jones, 50, formerly of Lafayette, after a grand jury declined to indict her on accusations that she threatened to kill President Donald Trump.
But federal prosecutors asked a U.S. District Court judge to dismiss a case filed Aug. 18 without prejudice, leaving the option open to file charges against Jones in another court, according to a court document filed Sept. 5. Prosecutors indicated that planned to file misdemeanor charges against Jones in District of Columbia Superior Court for attempted threats to do bodily harm.
According to court records, U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh granted the prosecutor’s motion during a status hearing Monday morning in federal court. Sharbaugh also removed all conditions tied to the release of Jones from federal custody.
Jones’ court appointed defense attorney, Mary Petras, had asked the judge to dismiss the charges without a chance to refile in another court.
“Given the grand jury’s decision, Ms. Jones should not be forced to live under the threat of later charges and rearrest,” Petras wrote in a Sept. 5 court filing. “The charges against Ms. Jones were based on interpretations of statements the government presented to the grand jury. The grand jury rejected that interpretation of the statements and apparently agreed that Ms. Jones’ statements were consistent with her First Amendment rights.”
Jones had been on home detention at her New York City apartment, released from federal custody after her Aug. 16 arrest in Washington, D.C.
Jones was charged Aug. 18 in U.S. District Court with threatening death or bodily harm upon the president and transmitting threats of violence using interstate commerce, after Secret Service agents interviewed her during a demonstration near the White House about a series of posts on Facebook and Instagram over a 10-day period in August.
Federal officials said Secret Service agents interviewed Jones on Aug. 15 in Washington D.C., where they say she called Trump a “terrorist” and a “Nazi,” and that she had a “bladed object” she would use to kill the president. Federal officials say Jones told them about wanting to “avenge all the lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic.” According to court documents, she told the federal officers she planned to leave Washington, D.C., though. Jones was arrested the next day at a demonstration that started at Dupont Circle and went to the White House, according to the Department of Justice, after Secret Service agents interviewed her again. According to the Department of Justice, Jones admitted she’d made threats against Trump when speaking with them a day earlier but that “she denied having any present desire to harm the president.”
Petras had argued that what Jones had posted on social media – including that she was “willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea” – amounted to hyperbole and not true threats to the president. Petras argued that statements Jones made were “based on a delusional plan — not a serious expression of an intent to harm.” She also argued that officers had found no weapons with Jones or in a search of her vehicle.
Jones, who has openly discussed dealing with schizophrenia, continued to post on social media critical assessments of Trump and the current administration since being released from federal custody.
“I am off home detention, thank God!” she posted Monday afternoon.
COURT HEARING SET ON MOTIONS TO DISMISS WEST LAFAYETTE RESIDENTS’ LAWSUITS AGAINST SK HYNIX REZONING DECISION
A pair of lawsuits from West Lafayette residents challenging a rezoning decision that clears the way for a $3.87 billion SK hynix semiconductor facility inched forward Monday in Tippecanoe Circuit Court.
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