Jurors in sandwich thrower case talk about their deliberations in his trial in Washington, D.C.

Source: CBS News

December 7, 2025 / 8:00 PM EST / CBS News


The brief federal criminal trial last month of Sean Dunn, the man who threw a "submarine-style sandwich" at a Customs and Border Protection officer in downtown Washington, D.C., was only a misdemeanor case. But the courtroom was filled, and the overflow room was crowded, too.

The 12 jurors didn't realize initially that Dunn's case — and their verdict — would garner national attention. One juror thought the deliberations would last under an hour. The juror, a longtime resident of Washington, D.C., also noted that some people in the courtroom struggled to "keep a straight face" during the trial and even laughed openly. "It seemed to me like an open and closed type of thing," another juror said. "It was kind of ridiculous."

Dunn hurled the sandwich at the CBP officer stationed at a busy intersection in August. The incident was widely publicized and quickly became a symbol of resistance against President Trump's federal policing crackdown and National Guard deployment in the nation's capital.

After roughly seven hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted Dunn. It was the second time a group of D.C. citizens rejected the Justice Department's claim that Dunn, who was fired from his job at the Justice Department after the incident, had committed a crime in tossing a sandwich at a federal agent. A separate grand jury had rejected the prosecutors' request to indict Dunn on a felony charge earlier this year.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sandwich-thrower-jurors-interviews-sean-dunn-washington/