Hurling a sandwich at a federal agent was an act of protest for Washington, D.C., resident Sean Charles Dunn. A jury should resolve if it was additionally a federal crime.
“Regardless of who you might be, you possibly can’t simply go round throwing stuff at individuals since you’re mad,” Assistant U.S. Legal professional John Parron instructed jurors on Tuesday in the beginning of Dunn’s trial on a misdemeanor assault cost.
Dunn doesn’t dispute that he threw his submarine-style sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Safety agent exterior a nightclub on the evening of Aug. 10. It was an “exclamation level” for Dunn as he expressed his opposition to President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement surge within the nation’s capital, protection legal professional Julia Gatto mentioned throughout the trial’s opening statements.
“It was a innocent gesture on the finish of him exercising his proper to talk out,” Gatto mentioned. “He’s overwhelmingly not responsible.”
A bystander’s cellphone video of the confrontation went viral on social media, turning Dunn right into a image of resistance towards Trump’s monthslong federal takeover. Murals depicting him mid-throw popped up within the metropolis nearly in a single day.
“He did it. He threw the sandwich,” Gatto instructed jurors. “And now the U.S. Legal professional for the District of Columbia has turned that second — a thrown sandwich — right into a prison case, a federal prison case charging a federal offense.”
A grand jury refused to indict Dunn on a felony assault rely, a part of a sample of pushback towards the Justice Division’s prosecution of surge-related prison instances. After the uncommon rebuke from the grand jury, U.S. Legal professional Jeanine Pirro’s workplace charged Dunn as a substitute with a misdemeanor.
CBP Agent Gregory Lairmore, the federal government’s first witness, mentioned the sandwich “exploded” when it struck his chest onerous sufficient that he may really feel it by means of his ballistic vest.
“You would odor the onions and the mustard,” he recalled.
Lairmore and different CBP brokers have been standing in entrance of a membership internet hosting a “Latin Evening” when Dunn approached and shouted profanities at them, calling them “fascists” and “racists” and chanting “disgrace.”
“Why are you right here? I don’t need you in my metropolis!” Dunn shouted, in accordance with police.
Lairmore testified that he and the opposite brokers tried to de-escalate the scenario.
“He was red-faced. Enraged. Calling me and my colleagues every kind of names,” he mentioned. “I didn’t reply. That’s his constitutional proper to specific his opinion.”
After throwing the sandwich, Dunn ran off however was apprehended a couple of block away. Jurors noticed video from an officer’s physique digicam after Dunn’s arrest.
“I used to be attempting to attract them away from the place they have been,” Dunn mentioned on the video. “I succeeded.”
Later, Lairmore’s colleagues jokingly gave him items making gentle of the incident, together with a sandwich-shaped plush toy and a patch that mentioned “felony footlong.” Protection legal professional Sabrina Schroff pointed to these as proof that the brokers acknowledge this case is “overblown” and “worthy of a joke.”
It’s unclear if Dunn will testify after his trial resumes on Wednesday. Considered one of his attorneys indicated on Tuesday that he hadn’t but determined whether or not to take the stand as soon as the federal government rests its case.
Parron instructed jurors that everyone is entitled to their views about Trump’s federal surge.
“Respectfully, that’s not what this case is about,” the prosecutor mentioned. “You simply can’t do what the defendant did right here. He crossed a line.”
Dunn was a Justice Division worker who labored as a global affairs specialist in its prison division. After Dunn’s arrest, Legal professional Common Pam Bondi introduced his firing in a social media submit that referred to him as “an instance of the Deep State.”
Dunn was launched from custody however rearrested when a staff of armed federal brokers in riot gear raided his dwelling. The White Home posted a extremely produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn’s legal professionals mentioned.
Dunn’s legal professionals have argued that the posts by Bondi and the White Home present Dunn was impermissibly focused for his political speech. They urged U.S. District Choose Carl Nichols to dismiss the case for what they allege is a vindictive and selective prosecution. Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, didn’t rule on that request earlier than the trial began Monday.
Dunn is charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer. Dozens of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol have been convicted of felonies for assaulting or interfering with police throughout the Jan. 6 assault. Trump pardoned or ordered the dismissal of costs for all of them.
