D.C. Jury Acquits ‘Sandwich Guy’ of Assaulting Federal Agent

A jury today acquitted Sean Dunn, the Washington, D.C., man who went viral in August for hurling a footlong Subway sandwich at a Border Patrol officer.

The jury deliberated for several hours over Wednesday and this afternoon before finding Dunn, a former Justice Department paralegal, not guilty of misdemeanor assault on a federal law enforcement officer. The verdict is another high-profile embarrassment for federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia, who have repeatedly failed to win convictions or even indictments against residents accused of obstructing or assaulting federal officers deployed as part of the Trump administration’s occupation of D.C.

“I would like to thank family and friends and strangers for all of their support, whether it was emotional or spiritual or artistic or financial,” Dunn said outside the courthouse following the verdict, according to CNN.

“That night I believed that I was protecting the rights of immigrants,” Dunn continued. “And let us not forget that the great seal of the United States says ‘E pluribus unum.’ That means ‘from many, one.’ Every life matters no matter where you came from. No matter how you got here, no matter how you identify, you have the right to live a life that is free.”

In a statement to Reason, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said, “As always, we accept a jury’s verdict; that is the system within which we function. However, law enforcement should never be subjected to assault, no matter how ‘minor’. Even children know when they are angry, they are not allowed to throw objects at one another.”

On the night of August 10, a bystander filmed Dunn confronting several Border Patrol officers patrolling the streets of D.C. “Fuck you! You fucking fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn yelled at officers. He then threw a salami sandwich at Border Patrol Officer Greg Lairmore, hitting Lairmore in the chest, before running away with several officers struggling in pursuit.

Dunn’s act of defiance led not only to viral fame, memes, and street murals, but an arrest warrant on his apartment, executed by 20 officers in riot gear (and a White House film crew).

However, federal prosecutors originally failed to secure a felony grand jury indictment against Dunn, leading them to refile a lesser misdemeanor assault charge against him. Dunn pleaded not guilty and went to trial.

At the trial this week, Lairmore testified that the salami sandwich “exploded all over” his chest and claimed he could smell mustard and onions. However, a photo showed that the sandwich was still in its wrapper after it landed on the ground.

NBC News reported that Dunn’s defense attorneys also noted Lairmore received two gag gifts from coworkers: “a plush sandwich and a patch featuring a cartoon of Dunn throwing the sandwich with the words ‘Felony Footlong.'” Dunn’s attorneys argued that the gag gifts showed that no one, not even the alleged victim, thought this was a serious matter.

“This case, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is about a sandwich,” Dunn’s defense attorney, Sabrina Shroff, said, according to NBC News.

As Reason‘s Billy Binion wrote, the “disproportionate response to [Dunn’s] offense epitomizes why Trump’s plan appears to be, at least for now, more political theater than a real solutions-oriented approach” to crime in D.C.

And the outcome of the trial shows what the jury thought of that political theater. CNN reported that one juror “told reporters after the verdict that she didn’t think the officer felt threatened by the sandwich and laughed when asked if she felt the sub ‘exploded’ as the officer claimed.”

The verdict is one of several recent instances where prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. have failed to convince local juries to indict or convict defendants accused of assaulting federal law enforcement officers. For example, prosecutors failed to convince three different grand juries to indict a woman accused of assaulting an FBI agent, forcing prosecutors to refile the case as a misdemeanor.