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LetMyPeopleVote

(169,179 posts)
Thu Aug 28, 2025, 07:55 PM Aug 28

After failing to get felony indictment, feds charge DC sandwich thrower with a misdemeanor

Piro loses again. This lady cannot indict a ham sandwich for a felony and so is going for a misdemeanor (where she does not have to go to a grand jury)



https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/after-failing-felony-indictment-feds-charge-dc-sandwich/story

Federal prosecutors have charged the man accused of throwing a sandwich at a Customs and Border Patrol agent in Washington, D.C., earlier this month with a misdemeanor after a grand jury refused to indict him on a more serious felony assault charge on Wednesday, according to court records filed Thursday.

Sean Dunn has now been charged through a criminal information, which did not require sign-off by a D.C. grand jury.

Prosecutors failed to convince a grand jury to charge Dunn with a felony, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday......

The incident came amid heightened tensions over federal law enforcement presence in the District after President Donald Trump deployed federal law enforcement agents and National Guard troops to Washington declaring a public safety emergency and putting the Metropolitan Police Department under partial federal oversight.

Dunn's attorney and the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
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bucolic_frolic

(52,203 posts)
1. His lawyers should use the felony fails as evidence of malice and prejudice
Thu Aug 28, 2025, 07:57 PM
Aug 28

This guy has a strong case imho.

Wiz Imp

(6,826 posts)
5. To be fair, he arguably may deserve the misdemeanor charge, HOWEVER, I think there is a very good chance
Thu Aug 28, 2025, 08:11 PM
Aug 28

this charge ultimately gets dismissed.

LetMyPeopleVote

(169,179 posts)
4. Deadline: Legal Blog-It matters why the grand jury in D.C. declined to indict sandwich thrower Sean Dunn
Thu Aug 28, 2025, 08:06 PM
Aug 28

There are different ways of reading the stunning action by a Washington grand jury amid Trump’s federal crackdown on the nation’s capital.



https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/dc-sandwich-thrower-grand-jury-indictment-decline-matters-rcna227748

We know that a grand jury in Washington refused to indict sandwich thrower Sean Dunn. But we don’t necessarily know why.

It’s a stunning result with serious implications no matter what motivated the rejection. Yet, what those implications are, exactly, could depend on the rationale for refusing to approve a felony charge against the man who became a folk hero in D.C. amid the Trump administration’s federal crackdown in the nation’s capital......

But something bigger may have been at play: jury nullification. That’s when jurors believe that prosecutors have proved the technical elements of the case but, nonetheless, the jury renders a moral objection by way of a not guilty verdict (or in the case of a grand jury, a “no true bill”).

To put the question one way: Did grand jurors think the government did a bad job, or a bad thing?.....

Importantly, we have more than Dunn’s case to go on in analyzing this phenomenon. There’s the even more shocking recent failure of D.C. prosecutors to get an indictment against Sidney Reid a whopping three times. She was initially charged under the same federal assault statute as Dunn. After striking out in the grand jury, prosecutors reduced her case to a misdemeanor, which doesn’t require grand jury approval.

Let’s assume for a moment that grand jurors in both the Dunn and Reid cases just thought there wasn’t enough proof to charge them with felonies. The known facts of both cases certainly allow for that possibility. Through that lens, the message to prosecutors is that they need to more carefully evaluate the quality of cases they bring.

But if the message is that the people of D.C. are declining to approve charges despite the evidence presented to them, that’s something that should worry prosecutors even more.

I am personally voting that both cases are jury nullification and Piro needs to worry if she takes these cases to trial.

Wiz Imp

(6,826 posts)
6. It was NOT jury nullification. There was absolutely no basis in the law to charge him with a felony.
Thu Aug 28, 2025, 08:15 PM
Aug 28

The Grand Jury followed the law. A felony charge was totally unsupportable.

Arazi

(8,332 posts)
7. Dunn admitted he did it AND it's all on video
Thu Aug 28, 2025, 08:24 PM
Aug 28

It’s possible the grand jury decided the DOJ was overcharging but it has a definite whiff of jury nullification to me.

I hope some attorneys step up to help him fight this pro bono or it’s going to get expensive since this DOJ will be determined to make him suffer since he’s turned into a bit of a folk hero (like Kilmer Abrego Garcia)

LetMyPeopleVote

(169,179 posts)
8. DC is TIRED of the federal takeover, and they're letting everyone know!
Fri Aug 29, 2025, 02:43 PM
Friday


DC is TIRED of the federal takeover, and they're letting everyone know!

3 days ago a DC Grand Jury declined to indict a woman for assaulting an ICE agent (a scratch on his hand).

Today another grand jury declined to indict the guy who threw a sub at an ICE agent!

FREE DC!

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