An individual walks previous Banksy-style posters of a protester throwing a sandwich on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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Prosecutors didn’t get hold of a grand jury indictment in opposition to a former Department of Justice worker who allegedly hurled a Subway sandwich at a federal officer whom President Donald Trump deployed in Washington, D.C.
It was the second time in latest days {that a} grand jury rejected an indictment request by the workplace of U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro in a prison case involving assaults on federal authorities finishing up Trump’s insurance policies.
Pirro’s prosecutors had sought to cost the person, Sean Charles Dunn, with felony assault of a Customs and Border Protection officer for the Aug. 10 sub-chucking incident.
But they might not persuade a grand jury to indict Dunn, NBC News reported Wednesday, citing two folks conversant in the matter.
Dunn had been fired by the DOJ after his arrest.
It shouldn’t be clear if prosecutors will strive once more to acquire an indictment of Dunn or lodge one other charging instrument in opposition to him, often called an “information.”
It is extraordinarily uncommon for a grand jury to say no to return an indictment when a prosecutor requests one after presenting proof of an alleged crime.
Grand jurors should agree there may be possible trigger {that a} particular crime occurred to indict somebody. That is a decrease normal than guilt past an affordable doubt, which is required for a trial jury to convict somebody.
Lawyers routinely quote Sol Wachtler, the previous chief choose in New York state’s highest courtroom, who as soon as mentioned prosecutors might get grand juries to “indict a ham sandwich.”
It is even rarer for the federal authorities to fail to acquire an indictment in a high-profile case that it has touted within the media, because the DOJ did after Dunn’s arrest.
The DOJ and the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in D.C. didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s requests for touch upon Dunn’s case.
Dunn’s lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, declined to remark when contacted by CNBC.
The New York Times first reported that the grand jury had not issued a “true bill,” or indictment, of Dunn.
The sandwich spat occurred as Trump has clamped down on the nation’s capital to shortly eradicate what he claims is out-of-control crime within the metropolis.
He invoked a never-before-used authorized energy to quickly take over the D.C. police division and ordered a deployment of 800 National Guard members to the town. His administration additionally ramped up the presence of federal brokers on the streets to help in crime prevention.
Trump’s actions are unpopular amongst D.C. residents, in line with latest polls, and activists have confronted or heckled federal officers whereas they’re performing regulation enforcement operations within the metropolis.
On Monday, Pirro’s workplace told a judge in a separate prison case that “an Indictment has not been returned” after “a third grand jury returned a no true bill.”
The admission signifies that Pirro failed at three separate makes an attempt to safe an indictment in opposition to Sydney Reid, who, like Dunn, is accused of assaulting a federal officer in D.C.
A Homeland Security agent wrote in a court affidavit that Reid “forcefully pushed” an FBI agent’s hand in opposition to a cement wall in late July.
The affidavit mentioned Reid had been recording the discharge from D.C. jail of two alleged gang members into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of their immigration standing.
After Reid tried to “impede the transfer” by getting between one suspect and the brokers, ICE officer Vincent Laing pushed her “against the wall and told her to stop,” in line with the courtroom doc.
FBI agent Eugenia Bates got here to help Laing and Reid, who was “flailing her arms and kicking,” inflicting “lacerations on the back side of Agent Bates’s left hand,” the affidavit mentioned.