Expert taken aback by court's 'staggering new rejection' of hand-picked Trump prosecutor

A former federal prosecutor was taken aback on Monday by a jury's "staggering new rebuke" of one of President Donald Trump's hand-picked prosecutors.

Last week, a federal jury acquitted a 33-year-old man named Jacob Winkler after Trump's Department of Justice charged him with crimes stemming from shining a green laser at the presidential helicopter last year. The case was brought by former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who currently serves as the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., and the jury deliberated for just 35 minutes, according to reports.

Glenn Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., described the ruling in a new reaction video for his podcast, "Justice Matters," as a "staggering new rebuke" of Pirro.

"Every hour spent on this case was an hour not spent addressing real threats to our community," Kirschner said.

"But for 12 jurors sitting in a wooden box as the conscience of the community to conclude like that that the prosecutor just completely failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," he added. "It's pretty unusual because we tend not to bring extraordinarily weak cases."

Kirschner said that Pirro's case showed the government "