Rachel Powell uses a bullhorn to talk to passing cars while protesting stay-at-home orders and the shutdown of non-essential businesses due to the coronavirus pandemic outside the Mercer County Courthouse in April 2020. Associated Press File photo

The federal indictment charging a former county resident dubbed the “Pink Hat Lady” for the brightly colored hat she wore during the Jan. 6 riot in Washington D.C. was dismissed Tuesday.

Rachel Marie Powell, who used to live in West Sunbury, but now lives in Mercer County, was sentenced in November 2023 to serve 57 months in prison after being found guilty in a bench trial of nine charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office. The charges stemmed from her participation in the Jan. 6 riot that disrupted a joint session of Congress called to certify Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Powell appealed the verdict and a federal appeals court vacated her conviction on one of the charges and remanded the case back to the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. Her resentencing was scheduled for Jan. 24, but Tuesday’s dismissal brought the case to an end.

In the motion to dismiss the indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s office cited an executive order dated Jan. 20 “granting pardons and commutation of sentences relating to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021” as the reason for the dismissal.

U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who presided over Powell’s trial, signed the dismissal order Tuesday.

President Donald Trump was inaugurated Monday and promised to pardon or commute the sentences of more than 1,500 people charged in the Jan. 6 riot.