The government has decided to retry D.C. activist Adam Eidinger for his refusal to leave a House Oversight Committee hearing last April, after the first trial ended in a hung jury.

Eidinger was arrested and charged with unlawful entry after a disruption during the hearing. He maintains he was not a part of the disturbance, which D.C. Vote protesters confirmed on the stand during the trial.

The case hinged on whether Sean McLaughlin—the outgoing House Oversight Committee staff director—had the right to kick Eidinger out of the hearing, and if the activist had the “good faith belief” that he should stay. Ultimately, six jurors thought he was guilty, five thought he was innocent, and one remained undecided.

“When they asked me to leave, I felt like I was being discriminated against,” Eidinger says. “I thought, ‘If I let you bully me, I have no recourse.’ So I refused to leave.”

While Eidinger is disappointed that the government plans to retry him, he says there is one silver lining: the modification of a stay away order that had been keeping him from visiting the Rayburn Building altogether. He still can’t visit any House Oversight Committee hearings, but now he can enter the building. Going to the committee hearings “is the whole point,” says Eidinger, “But it’s a little bit of an improvement.”

The new trial date is set for May 2, more than a year after the arrest. “The next trial is going to be more in-depth,” says Eidinger. “I’m going to take the stand.”

He also plans on having testimony from D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who was there for the hearing. She was willing to take the stand in the first trial, but Eidinger and his lawyer opted “not to waste her time. Turns out, maybe we did need her,” he says.

Norton said in a statement last week that she would take the stand if Eidinger were retried. She also wrote that she doubts “the government will be able to find a jury of 12 D.C. residents willing to convict a fellow resident for peacefully sitting in a committee meeting about overturning a local D.C. law.”

Eidinger says he could hear members of the jury yelling at one another behind closed doors during deliberation.

“This is nervewracking to have a case over your head for so long,” says Eidinger. “I’m still facing six months in jail.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case.

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