DOJ's trial against sandwich hurler kicks off with a misfire

Monday kicked off the trial of accused sandwich tosser Sean Dunn, who the Justice Department tried to indict on felony assault charges after he chucked a foot-long at a federal agent tasked with the D.C. takeover. The problem, however, is that there's already a flub in the trial.

The Justice Department failed to indict Dunn on felony charges and was forced to knock the charges down to a misdemeanor when several grand juries refused to agree to the indictment.

Politico legal reporter Josh Gerstein noted Monday on X, "Oh, great. DOJ kicks off trial of sandwich man with a structural error."

The Associated Press reported, "For several hours on Monday, the judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys individually questioned prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case and other potential biases. A white noise maker prevented courtroom observers from hearing their conversations."

As Gerstein pointed out, you can't hold jury selection in secret. He cited the 2010 case Presley v. Georgia, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that jury selection in a criminal trial can't be closed.

Dunn's lawyers pointed out the mistake and asked that the jury selection process be restarted. Donald Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols refused, calling it "drastic."

"We've been through this before, people!" said Gerstein.

The comment is about a 2019 case in which Trump's Justice Department made the same error, and jury selection had to be restarted.

Dunn's lawyers argued that the case is an example of selective prosecution over his politics. His attorneys say that, typically, such an act would not be tried in federal court; it would have been a minor incident. Instead, the Trump administration has sought to throw the book at him while also pardoning rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

“The defendant is being prosecuted for the obvious reason that he was recorded throwing a sandwich at a federal officer at point-blank range,” they wrote.

It's unclear whether Dunn will have an option to appeal the case over the jury selection flub.