Grand jury decision highlights challenges for prosecutors in Washington
Prosecutors may seek indictment again before a different grand jury
Defendant came to symbolize resistance to Trump's law enforcement measures
WASHINGTON
Aug 27 (Reuters) - A federal grand jury declined to indict a former
Justice Department staffer who was arrested for throwing a sandwich at a
federal law enforcement agent during U.S. President Donald Trump's
crime crackdown in Washington, a source briefed on the matter told
Reuters on Wednesday.
U.S.
prosecutors had sought a felony assault charge against Sean Dunn, who
had worked on international cases at the Justice Department. He was
fired after being caught on video hurling a sub-style sandwich at a U.S.
Customs and Border Patrol Agent on August 10 in a bustling Washington
neighborhood.
The decision marked the second time
in recent days that a grand jury stymied federal prosecutors in
Washington seeking a felony indictment, typically a routine step in
bringing in a criminal case. It is highly unusual for a grand jury to
reject such a request given that the prosecutor alone controls the
presentation of evidence and must clear a lower legal bar than a jury at
a criminal trial. This dynamic led to an oft-quoted observation from a
New York judge that a good prosecutor could indict a "ham sandwich."
The failure to indict in this sandwich-related case illustrates the challenges facing prosecutors in Washington as they face orders
to bring the most severe federal charges available against those
arrested in law enforcement sweeps. The Trump administration has deployed federal agents and National Guard troops to curb what Trump has portrayed as an out-of-control crime problem in the nation's capital, despite police statistics showing a decline in violent crime following an earlier surge.
Prosecutors
are likely to try again to seek an indictment before a different grand
jury for Dunn, the source said. U.S. law typically gives the Justice
Department 30 days to secure an indictment after an arrest.
[...] Dunn
was charged by a criminal complaint with assaulting, resisting and
impeding officers. He allegedly called the officers "fascists" and
yelled "I don't want you in my city!" before throwing the sandwich,
according to the complaint.
Yes. Dunn did well.
[...] Justice Department officials touted the case as they vowed to punish any interference with police, and the White House released a social media video showing several armed agents arresting him.
Trump, a TV performer before being elected, is so TV tuned in that the last link in the excerpt starts:
The
White House has dispatched social media teams alongside FBI agents
executing arrest warrants in the nation's capital to generate videos
that promote U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on crime in the District of Columbia, according to two people briefed on the atatter.
The
highly unusual arrangement runs afoul of longstanding Justice
Department norms which seek to insulate criminal investigations from
political influence.
It could hamstring prosecutors' ability to try their cases by generating
pre-trial publicity and raise constitutional questions about suspects'
rights to privacy in cases involving arrests carried out in non-public
areas, legal experts say.
So Trump wanted video footage - but not such as showed up and evolved.
Okay now, that's the set up for noting the saying, "With only one lawyer in the room any halfway competent prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich."
You throw a ham sandwich, no problem. Irony rocks.
Trump's chicken shit "crackdown" is such a crock that the Dunn guy deserves a good conduct medal.
But the bastards have 30 days to try again apparently, to indict. This is a new kind of fascism -
Ham Sandwich Chicken Shit Fascism. Tell your friends about it.
It sinks, it does not float. (And any competent grand jury will tell you that.)
Trump is getting to be a real bore, and should stop. Trump may be unhappy over that declining to indict and may tell JD to hold a presser and say something, but for both of them, and for Bondi and Kash, it's simply how the chicken shits. They should have known better.
Reality rocks. Those Trumpsters are playing with fire and deserve to get burned by it. They should not be so tone deaf, even if Trump himself is super swellheaded and TV addicted the minions should include cogent adults in the room. You'd think.
Not so, and 2026 midterms are so, so far away. If they were tomorrow voters could, figuratively, throw a ham sandwich at Trump and his puppets. They deserve it. When we do get the elections, voters please throw that sandwich. In honor of the Contitution and simple good sense.
And for Dunn. Show your support. The election will be sandwich time for us all.
_____________UPDATE_____________
They went to Dunn's apartment and rearrested him. This is total bullshit now. Escalating from chicken-shit several notches. This is the full force of the boot of t he FBI on a citizen's throat, for throwing a ham sandwich.
That entire business is SICK and should stop. Trump's wasting the cost of all that personnel spending time doing such a super deep Deep State, super slimy swamp thing suggests Trump is a sick man. Very scary, since these are armed agents pissing around this way on the taxpayers dime. Do they believe that anyone voted for him to double-arrest a sandwich thrower?
It boggles the mind. Such a degree of Naziism befuddles and confuses. WTF? Stop this now.
The Dunn guy is a citizen. You do not do that to citizens. To illegal immigrants. To anyone.
It is Deep State gone rogue. Ordered to. Doing it. Obscene.
And --- The very First Amendment to our nation's Constitution says I can express my opinion.
You got it.
Consider the totality of circumstances. You next? Who knows?
..............................................
Is diversion of public attention from Trump's being mentioned in the Epstein files worth staging this circus stuff? He must be worried.
It is an outrage. It is excessive government coercive show time. SICK.
