well Democratic Congresswoman Lmon Monica Mcyver appeared in court for the first time today facing charges of assault filed against her in June by interim US Attorney for New Jersey Alina Haba that was stemming from a confrontation at an ICE detention facility in Newark that escalated when law enforcement moved to arrest Newark Mayor Raz Baraka the charges have since been dropped against the mayor but MacGyver was served with a three-count indictment accused of slamming a federal agent with her forearm forcibly grabbing him and using her forearms to strike another agent macyver has maintained her innocence and turned down a plea deal senior correspondent Joanna Gagas was at the hearing in New York federal court and has the latest joanna yeah Briana today Congresswoman Lam Monica Macgyver pled not guilty to charges brought against her by the US government those charges come from an altercation that can be seen in ICE video showing a physical confrontation between MacGyver and federal agents now the hearing today was short the judge Jamal Seer read through the maximum charges for each of the three counts brought against Macyver the first two for forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers the third charge is a misdemeanor in total she faces a maximum of 17 years in prison if convicted now interestingly interim US attorney for New Jersey Alina Haba who's been leading the charge against MacGyver and formerly against Mayor Raz Baraka who was arrested outside of Delaney Hall on May 9th alina Haba was not in the courtroom today it could be that she wasn't there because her interim term expires in July she won't get a chance to argue this case another interesting fact the defense attorney for MacGyver is Paul Fishman he is the former US attorney for New Jersey today he maintained MacGyver's innocence as did the congresswoman herself here's a little bit of what we heard today from both of them and from the large group of supporters who showed up to show the congresswoman that they were behind her justice for Monica justice for Monica who do we stand with who do we stand with i just left out of court and pleaded not guilty um because I'm not guilty we went to Delaney Hall for oversight visit that's right the members of Congress had the right to hold these agencies accountable and that is what we went to Delaney Hall for we did not go there to protest we did not go there for any of that we went there to make sure that this facility was up to par and the detainees there were getting due process she plead not guilty because she is not guilty on May 9th the congresswoman went to Delaney Hall as is her right and responsibility as a member of the United States Congress to inspect that facility she was there to see for herself and on behalf of the people who were there and her constituents in New Jersey whether the Trump administration was obeying the laws of the United States and the Constitution in that space when Mayor Baraka showed up HSI and ICE created a risky and dangerous situation and now the administration is doubling down by charging our client with three counts of federal criminal law we are eager to challenge these charges in federal court on legal and factual grounds and we are confident that when we are done the legal system will vindicate the congresswoman they had no grounds to arrest me uh the the charge was heinous it it was a overreach and that's why they dropped it because it was absolutely wrong they know that and and so everything that came as a result of that was also wrong they had no business on the property in the first place we were dealing with GEO which is a private prison in the first place we will not stand for it i will not stand for it they will not intimidate me they will not stop me from doing my job i will continue to do what the people of the 10th Congressional District elected me to do now as I mentioned all that was really discussed in the courtroom today were the penalties and the dates and deadlines for the court i'm going to go through a few of the key ones right now first Macyver's status conference will be held on August 8th all motions must be filed before the court by August 15th there will be a pre-trial conference on September 23rd but the date that really matters Monday November 10th will begin the trial in US verse Macyver of course we'll be following every step of the way in Newark i'm Joanna Gagas NJ Spotlight News