A federal judge threw out most counts, including those of extortion, in the criminal case against state Sen. Dalya Attar and two codefendants on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher dismissed the counts in an order Friday afternoon.

“Although this Court does not condone the conduct alleged in the indictment, because [federal law] does not criminalize it, this Court must dismiss” the extortion counts, Gallagher wrote.

Counts of conspiracy and intercepting electronic communications remain, reducing the case’s focus to illegal wiretapping.

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Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the decision. Attar’s attorneys also declined to comment.

Attar was charged along with her brother, Joseph Attar, and Kalman Finkelstein, a Baltimore City Police officer. All three pleaded not guilty to the charges and are awaiting trial.

The defendants, the indictment says, had secretly taped Attar’s former consultant in bed with a married man and then threatened to share the tape with the consultant’s family unless she agreed to sit out the 2022 House of Delegates election.

In her ruling, Gallagher agreed with defense attorneys who argued that the alleged scheme was not an attempt to gain anything of monetary value. Federal prosecutors had pointed to case law that they said supported the idea that intangible things or “other things of value” beyond money could apply.

“In the context of this statute, the word ‘extort’ must limit ‘any money or other thing of value’ to only tangible, transferrable things, and not forbearance, consistent with the common law definition of extortion,” she wrote.

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Andrew C. White, a former federal prosecutor who is not involved with the case, called the decision a “very significant ruling.”

“Dismissal of charges like this rarely happens” in federal court, he said. “Prosecutors have long used these statutes to criminalize acts that don’t necessarily seek money, but seek influence ... the judge is reining that in by making clear that while the conduct might be reprehensible, it’s not criminal.”

Attar lost a bid for election in the Democratic primary last month to Del. Malcolm Ruff.

This is a developing story.