By Todd Spangler
WASHINGTON _ A 22-year-old woman accused of hitting U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., in the face with a pie last week will have her case suspended while government investigators decide whether she should be charged with a federal crime.
A Mecosta County, Mich., district judge decided Tuesday to suspend proceedings on the state case while the FBI investigates whether a charge of assaulting a member of Congress should be brought against Ahlam Mohsen of Coldwater, Mich.
A person convicted of assaulting a member of Congress can be fined and imprisoned for up to a year, according to federal statute.
Mohsen , a Michigan State University student, is accused of hitting Levin in the face with an apple pie while he spoke Aug. 16 at a coffee shop in Big Rapids, Mich.
According to witnesses, Mohsen hit Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, with pie as a man in the audience read complaints about Levin’s stance on foreign policy and the defense of Israel.
Mohsen and the man, identified by authorities as Max Kantar, 23, of Big Rapids, left the coffee shop immediately after the incident, and Mohsen was arrested a short time later.
She was charged with assault and disorderly conduct and has been held in the Mecosta County Jail on $250,000 bond.
On Tuesday, her attorney Dennis DuVall said the judge agreed to lower her bond to $50,000; she must put up $5,000 in cash to be released.
The judge also ordered Mohsen to surrender her passport.