Magistrate orders the release of Clinton shoe thrower

Despite opposition from prosecutors, a federal judge Thursday ordered the release of a Phoenix woman charged with throwing a shoe at Hillary Clinton during a speech in Las Vegas.

U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. set a Dec. 17 sentencing for Alison Michelle Ernst.

At the request of prosecutors earlier in the week, Foley dismissed a second misdemeanor count against Ernst stemming from the April shoe-throwing incident on the Strip.

Ernst, 36, pleaded guilty last month to trespassing.

Foley said Ernst should be released because she has already served six months behind bars, the likely sentence.

As part of her release conditions, Ernst must find an apartment and employment in Phoenix, undergo mental health treatment, if necessary, and stay away from anyone under U.S. Secret Service protection, Foley said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Newman asked Foley to keep Ernst in custody until her sentencing, arguing she was a danger to the community.

Newman questioned Ernst’s mental condition and said her erratic public behavior has escalated over the years.

She had contact with the Secret Service when she threw a pill box on the White House lawn and pestered Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan so much that he obtained a restraining order against her, Newman said.

Ernst also tried to meet with the president of Iran and was detained at an airport in Qatar for making a false bomb threat, Newman added.

After Newman spoke, Ernst interrupted her attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender William Carrico, and tried to tell the judge that Newman was taking the past incidents out of context. But the magistrate ordered her to remain silent.

Ernst was originally charged in April with hurling a black and orange Puma cleat at Clinton while the former U.S. secretary of state addressed a metal recycling conference at Mandalay Bay. Ernst had slipped into a restricted area where Clinton was speaking.

The shoe missed Clinton, and she made light of the interruption during her speech.

Clinton, a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, returned to Las Vegas this week to speak at a UNLV Foundation dinner at the Bellagio.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ