DC ‘sandwich guy’ found not guilty of misdemeanor assault

The man who slung a sandwich at a federal agent in Washington, D.C., and was unwittingly transformed into an opposition symbol of President Trump’s local crime crackdown has been found not guilty of misdemeanor assault after a trial.  

A jury handed down the not guilty verdict Thursday against Sean Dunn, a former Department of Justice (DOJ) employee who hurled a hoagie after confronting a group of officers patrolling a popular nightlife area of the nation’s capital.  

The acquittal marks an embarrassing loss for federal prosecutors, who pursued the misdemeanor charge after a grand jury refused to return an indictment on the felony assault count they initially sought.  

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, the Trump appointed judge overseeing the case, said he expected the trial to last no more than two days and called it “the simplest case in the world.” 

But the trial dragged on three days, and the jury deliberated for part of both Wednesday and Thursday before Dunn was ultimately acquitted.  

“I’m relieved, and I’m looking forward to moving on with my life,” Dunn said after the verdict was announced, according to the Associated Press.

It was never in question that, on Aug. 10, Dunn tossed the sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent in an act of protest.  

“Why are you here?” Dunn allegedly yelled at several agents. “I don’t want you in my city!”  

But prosecutors tried to persuade the jury that his behavior should be treated as a crime, while Dunn’s attorneys accused the government of blowing the incident out of proportion.  

CBP agent Gregory Lairmore, who was the government’s first witness, told jurors that the sandwich “exploded” on his chest, saying he could feel it strike through his ballistic vest. 

“You could smell the onions and the mustard,” Lairmore said. 

Defense attorney Julia Gatto told the jury that it amounted to a “harmless gesture” as he finished exercising his right to speak out.  

“He did it. He threw the sandwich,” she said. “And now the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has turned that moment — a thrown sandwich — into a criminal case, a federal criminal case, charging a federal offense.”

When the incident went viral, it sparked swift backlash from federal officials.  

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro — whose office prosecuted the case — urged Dunn to “stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else,” while Attorney General Pam Bondi fired Dunn from the Justice Department and called him an example of the “deep state” her DOJ opposes.   

Though he offered to surrender voluntarily, law enforcement raided his apartment and posted the video online with a movie-like soundtrack, his lawyer wrote in court papers.  

The defense said he was the subject of a selective and vindictive prosecution and sought to dismiss the charges before trial. Nichols, the judge, deferred ruling. 

“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,” the defense motion read.  

The Justice Department referred a request for comment to the U.S. Attorney’s office for D.C., which did not immediately respond. The Hill requested comment from Dunn’s attorneys, as well. 

On Washington’s streets, Dunn has become something of a folk hero.  

Banksy-style art depicting the sandwich toss, protest signs with sandwich imagery and merchandise from T-shirts to stickers on the online marketplace Etsy have lionized the moment at the heart of Dunn’s criminal case.  

President Trump’s D.C. takeover began in August when he declared a crime emergency, deploying the National Guard and more federal agents into the city’s streets.  

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth extended the National Guard troops’ deployment through February last week. 

The Associated Press contributed. 

Updated 3:01 p.m. EST