Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged a man seen throwing a sandwich at a federal agent with a misdemeanor offense after a grand jury declined to bring a harsher felony charge against the Washington, D.C., protester.Â
The grand jury recently refused to indict Sean Dunn, a former government employee, on felony charges, leading to prosecutors’ latest move to lessen the charges to a simple assault offense.
Earlier this month, Dunn hurled a Subway sandwich at a federal agent stationed in Washington as part of President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of the nation’s capital, a move the White House has branded as an anti-crime effort.Â
Video capturing Dunn’s act of protest against the government takeover went viral, leading U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro to level felony charges against the district resident.Â
The felony charge would have carried up to eight years in prison. Under the relaxed misdemeanor charge, which does not require prosecutors to go to a grand jury, Dunn would spend under one year in prison for throwing a hoagie sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer.Â
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Dunn was a Department of Justice employee when he encountered the federal agent. He was fired from his job after the incident.Â
Dunn’s case was assigned on Thursday to U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next week.