{"id":353719,"date":"2025-11-03T23:52:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T23:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/353719\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T23:52:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T23:52:22","slug":"trial-begins-for-dc-man-seen-throwing-sandwich-at-agent-in-viral-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/353719\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial begins for DC man seen throwing sandwich at agent in viral video"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Throwing a sandwich at a federal agent turned Sean Charles Dunn into a symbol of resistance<\/a> against President Donald Trump\u2019s law-enforcement surge in the nation\u2019s capital. This week, federal prosecutors are trying to persuade a jury of fellow Washington, D.C., residents that Dunn simply broke the law.<\/p>\n

That could be a tough sell for the government in a city that has chafed against Trump\u2019s federal takeover<\/a>, which is entering its third month. A grand jury refused to indict<\/a> Dunn on a felony assault count before U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro\u2019s office opted to charge him instead with a misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

Securing a trial conviction could prove to be equally challenging for Justice Department prosecutors in Washington, where murals glorifying Dunn\u2019s sandwich toss popped up virtually overnight.<\/p>\n

Before jury selection started Monday, the judge presiding over Dunn\u2019s trial seemed to acknowledge how unusual it is for a case like this to be heard in federal court. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, said he expects the trial to last no more than two days \u201cbecause it\u2019s the simplest case in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jurors are scheduled to hear attorneys\u2019 opening statements on Tuesday. The agent struck by the sandwich is expected to be the government\u2019s first witness.<\/p>\n

A video that went viral on social media captured Dunn hurling his subway-style sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent outside a nightclub on the night of Aug. 10. That same weekend, Trump announced his deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents to assist with police patrols in Washington.<\/p>\n

When Dunn approached a group of CBP agents who were in front of a club hosting a \u201cLatin Night,\u201d he called them \u201cfascists\u201d and \u201cracists\u201d and chanted \u201cshame\u201d toward them. An observer\u2019s video captured Dunn throwing a sandwich at an agent\u2019s chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you here? I don\u2019t want you in my city!\u201d Dunn shouted, according to police.<\/p>\n

Dunn ran away but was apprehended. He was released from custody but rearrested when a team of armed federal agents in riot gear raided his home. The White House posted a highly produced \u201cpropaganda\u201d video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn\u2019s lawyers said. They noted that Dunn had offered to surrender to police before the raid.<\/p>\n

Dunn worked as an international affairs specialist in the Justice Department\u2019s criminal division. After Dunn\u2019s arrest, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced his firing in a social media post that referred to him as \u201can example of the Deep State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before trial, Dunn\u2019s lawyers urged the judge to dismiss the case for what they allege is a vindictive and selective prosecution. They argued<\/a> that the posts by Bondi and the White House prove Dunn was impermissibly targeted for his political speech.<\/p>\n

Julia Gatto, one of Dunn\u2019s lawyers, questioned why Trump\u2019s Justice Department is prosecuting Dunn after the Republican president issued pardons and ordered the dismissal of assault cases stemming from a mob\u2019s attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an obvious answer,\u201d Gatto said during a hearing last Thursday. \u201cThe answer is they have different politics. And that\u2019s selective prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors countered that Dunn\u2019s political expressions don\u2019t make him immune from prosecution for assaulting the agent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant is being prosecuted for the obvious reason that he was recorded throwing a sandwich at a federal officer at point-blank range,\u201d they wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dunn is charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer. Dozens of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol were convicted of felonies for assaulting or interfering with police during the Jan. 6 attack. Trump pardoned or ordered the dismissal of charges for all of them.<\/p>\n

For several hours on Monday, the judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys individually questioned prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case and other potential biases. A white noise maker prevented courtroom observers from hearing their conversations.<\/p>\n

After jury selection started \u2014 but before the jurors were seated \u2014 Dunn\u2019s attorneys asked the judge to restart the process in open court so the public could hear their responses. The judge denied that request, saying it seems \u201cdrastic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Throwing a sandwich at a federal agent turned Sean Charles Dunn into a symbol of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":353720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[10762,137426,356,12785,84,69,57,4228,101226,172890,12588,2936,362,50,11335,172889,8007,94,61,67,132,68,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-353719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-assault","10":"tag-carl-nichols","11":"tag-courts","12":"tag-dc-wire","13":"tag-district-of-columbia","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-indictments","17":"tag-jeanine-pirro","18":"tag-julia-gatto","19":"tag-juries","20":"tag-law-enforcement","21":"tag-legal-proceedings","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-pam-bondi","24":"tag-sean-charles-dunn","25":"tag-trials","26":"tag-u-s-department-of-justice","27":"tag-u-s-news","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-unitedstates","30":"tag-us","31":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115488459740280900","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}