Rather than sentencing a woman to jail time for laughing during now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing, a judge has thrown out the jury’s conviction of the protester and called for a new trial.

Code Pink activist Desiree Fairooz, 61, was found guilty in May of charges of disorderly and disruptive conduct and of parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds. But Chief Judge Robert E Morin of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia found that the government had improperly argued during the trial that her laughter was enough to merit a guilty verdict.

“The court is concerned about the government’s theory,” Mr Morin said. He said the laughter “would not be sufficient” to submit the case to the jury, adding that the government had not made clear before the trial that it intended to make that argument, according to the Huffington Post.

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

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

Ms Fairooz 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.”

Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Show all 22 1 /22 Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump talk as they leave the Army Museum at Les Invalides in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump arrive for the group photo at the G7 Taormina summit on the island of Sicily in May 2017 Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Mr Trump was pressed on the subject at the G7 summit in Italy Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump gives a speeech at the Warsaw Uprising Monument on Krasinski Square Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May during a ceremony at the NATO headquarters before the start of a summit in Brussels, Belgium Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Montenegro's Prime Minister Dusko Markovic is seen to the right of Donald Trump at a Nato summit in Brussels REUTERS Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis meeting with US President Donald J. Trump EPA Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis poses with US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump arrives at Palazzo del Quirinale ahead of the meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella Ufficio Stampa Presidenza della via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is seen during a joint press conference with the Palestinian leader at the presidential palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas meets US President Donald Trump PPO via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with US President Donald Trump prior to the President's departure GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering a speech at the Israel Museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump lay a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance as White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump watch on during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem accompanied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump takes his seat before his speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump look at a display of Saudi modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips King Salman presents Donald Trump with The Collar of Abdulaziz al-Saud Medal at the Royal Court Palace on 20 May AP Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is welcomed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud upon arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn prior to their first foreign trip Getty Images

It was early in the 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.

Ms Fairooz’s attorney, Sam Bogash, had asked the judge to throw out the jury verdict, writing that the jury “was not reasonable” in its evaluation of evidence.

“Ms Fairooz’s brief reflexive burst of noise, be it laughter or an audible gasp, clearly cannot sustain a conviction for either of the counts in the information,” Mr Bogash wrote in a court filing. “So the only other basis for her conviction to anything are her statements after the US Capitol Police arrested her for that laughing. Those statements merely expressed surprise at being arrested.”