The trial has begun for the man charged in connection with a sandwich thrown at a federal officer in Washington, D.C., in August.
Sean Charles Dunn, 37, pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault in September after a grand jury initially declined to charge him with a felony in the incident, which went viral as a symbol of the local resistance to President Trump’s military takeover of the nation’s capital.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, said he expects the trial to last no more than two days, The Associated Press reported. He said this was “because it’s the simplest case in the world.”
Jury selection started on Monday, with open statements expected Tuesday.
Last month, Dunn’s lawyers tried to dismiss the case, which they called “a blatant abuse of power.”
“The federal government has chosen to bring a criminal case over conduct so minor it would be comical — were it not for the unmistakable retaliatory motive behind it and the resulting risk to Mr. Dunn,” Dunn’s lawyers said in an Oct. 15 memo. “Mr. Dunn tossed a sandwich at a fully armed, heavily protected Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer. That act alone would never have drawn a federal charge. What did was the political speech that accompanied it.”
His lawyers added that prosecuting Dunn has “a discriminatory purpose” to violate his First and Fifth Amendment rights. They also argued that the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia’s office is pursuing to prosecute Dunn in contrast to those accused in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, who were all pardoned by Trump.
“While Mr. Dunn’s alleged sandwich toss triggered deployment of a heavily armed SWAT team for a militarized arrest, the filing of felony charges, and continued prosecution even after a local court and a grand jury refused to indict, January 6 defendants—some captured on video hurling explosives, beating officers with baseball bats and riot shields, and spraying chemical irritants— saw their prosecutions dismissed and their convictions pardoned,” his attorneys wrote.
They argued that prosecuting Dunn “is, plain and simple, political viewpoint discrimination. And the Constitution forbids it.”
In their own memorandum, prosecutors said that Dunn was “being prosecuted for the obvious reason that he was recorded throwing a sandwich at a federal officer at point-blank range.”
“His motion fails to demonstrate any discriminatory effect or discriminatory purpose in his prosecution, or any vindictiveness. Indeed, he cannot identify any person who is similarly situated, but was not prosecuted. And the evidence that he points to as proof of a discriminatory purpose shows only the Government’s emphasis on protecting law enforcement officers who are supporting public safety in the District of Columbia,” they said.
“Why are you here?” Dunn allegedly yelled at several agents on Aug. 10 near the corner of 14th and U streets in Northwest Washington. “I don’t want you in my city!”
Months after Dunn protested the Trump administration’s federalization of Washington police and National Guard deployment, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday extended the deployment of National Guard troops in D.C. through February.
