The Guy Who Threw a Sandwich at an ICE Officer Is Actually on Trial

Your tax dollars at work, Part Infinity. From The New York Times:

Sean C. Dunn, a former paralegal for the Justice Department, will instead go to court to fight a misdemeanor assault charge in the August episode. A video of it circulated widely on social media, making him a symbol of local opposition to President Trump’s deployment of troops and federal agents in Washington.

The case stands out for its unusual facts and the Trump administration’s determination to prosecute the man, even on a lesser charge. But it is one of a number of unusually minor cases the government is bringing to federal court at Mr. Trump’s direction.

Dunn is the guy against whom the administration wanted to throw the book because he hit an ICE officer with a sandwich. They tried to try him on felony assault, and the grand jury members on that one may not have stopped laughing yet. Anyway, the circus is certainly in town.

Leading up to the trial, federal prosecutors and Mr. Dunn’s lawyers sparred over how to properly instruct the jury, given the unusual nature of the charges. That included discussion over the definition of federal misdemeanor assault, which typically requires physical contact, and whether the incident could be considered interfering with the agent’s duties.

Jury selection could be complicated by the notoriety of the incident, after Halloween decoration tributes and posters depicting Mr. Dunn in the style of the street artist Banksy have sprouted up around the city.

The officer, Gregory Lairmore, took the stand Tuesday. His testimony may go down in legal history. From CBS News:

Lairmore, who says he caught most of Dunn’s ire before catching the sandwich in his ballistic vest, saying at one point Dunn was “red-faced” and “enraged” by the police presence at a crowded intersection in Northwest Washington, D.C. To laughs in the room, Lairmore walked the jury through the “baseball pitch” of a sub throw, as another witness put it. Lairmore said he “could feel it through his ballistic vest” and it “exploded all over” him after the Subway stack hit him. He said he “could smell the onions and mustard” on his uniform, and even had an onion string hanging by his police radio later that night. The fast-food mustard, he said, stained his shirt.

If neither side calls the dry-cleaner guy as a witness, there is no justice in the world.