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A jury in Washington, D.C., began deliberations Wednesday in the trial of Sean Charles Dunn, a former Department of Justice employee accused of misdemeanor assault for throwing a sandwich at a federal officer. The incident, captured on video that quickly went viral, occurred on August 10 during a period of heightened federal law enforcement presence in the nation's capital under the Trump administration.
Prosecutors have framed the case as a straightforward assault. During closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parron told jurors, “No matter who you are, you can’t just go around throwing stuff at people because you’re mad.” The government's position is that the action was a clear violation of the law, regardless of the object thrown or the political motivations behind it. They argued that the act was simply an unlawful assault, separate from any protected speech or protest.
Dunn’s defense team contends that his action was a symbolic act of protest. His lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, described the sandwich toss as an “exclamation point” to his frustration with the federal surge. The defense argues that the government has taken a moment of political expression and escalated it into a federal prosecution, turning Dunn into a symbol of resistance to President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement surge.
The case has traveled a winding legal path. Initially, prosecutors sought a felony assault charge against Dunn, but a grand jury refused to indict him on that count. Afterward, the U.S. Attorney’s office, under Jeanine Pirro, proceeded with the current misdemeanor charge. After three days of testimony and the review of dozens of exhibits, the misdemeanor assault case is now in the hands of a jury to decide if the act constituted a crime.
