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| Marcy Rheintgen / Instagram |
A Judge has tossed out the case against Marcy Rheintgen, 20, who was arrested in March for washing her hands in a woman's restroom at the Florida State House. The judge dismissed the case on June 20, after prosecutors failed to meet filing deadlines.
Nineteen states have laws banning transgender people from using the restroom, but only two, Florida and Utah, have criminal penalties. Rheintgen is the first and the only person, to date, to be arrested and charged under those laws.
Rheintgen said that she intentionally broke the law because she felt it was disgusting and vile. She mailed letters to law enforcement and lawmakers telling them where and when she would be washing her hands.
When officers told her to leave the restroom, she refused, so they escorted her to a holding room at the state capitol where they offered to give her a notice to appear. But when Rheintgen "refused to lick their boots," she was arrested and charged with trespassing, which carries a possible eleven-month sentence.
Leon County court records show that a judge granted her defense attorney's motion to dismiss the misdemeanor trespassing charge against her on June 20 after state prosecutors failed to file charging documents and other information in her case within a 90-day timeline.
