As the Trump administration touts the number of arrests stemming from its takeover of Washington, D.C., some of the cases are falling apart in court.
The Justice Department recently vowed to make an example of a Washington resident and government employee who had heckled, then hurled a sandwich at, one of the federal agents patrolling the city’s streets. The man, Sean Dunn, was arrested and slapped with a felony charge.
“Let me be clear, if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, be certain we will come after you with the full weight of the law. Our officers have a job to do, and they should not be abused in the process,” D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said of the incident. “This alleged assault is no joke — it’s a serious crime, and those who think otherwise will learn just how gravely mistaken they are.”
But reports show that some of the criminal cases originating from the federal case are falling apart in court as prosecutors fail to obtain indictments in highly publicized incidents.
The New York Times reports that federal prosecutors were unable to convince the members of the grand jury to indict Dunn, a now-former employee of the Justice Department, for felony assault stemming from the encounter earlier this month. On August 10, Dunn was arrested after he reportedly approached a group of Customs and Border Protection agents and Metro Transit officers, calling them “fascists” and telling them, “I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn then allegedly threw a sandwich at one of the CBP agents, “striking him in the chest,” per the Justice Department’s press release.
