sandwich guy trial, after two days of jury deliberation, still hasn't produced a verdict.
...
somebody (multiple bodies?) on this jury does not want to punish the defendant.
am gonna admit we had to look up fed criminal misdemeanor assault, 'cause that is literal something we never saw when we worked criminal. am suspecting the fact nobody has ever needed give jury instructions for misdemeanor assault is the reason why this ludicrous trial has stretched to five freaking days.
the fed statute for criminal misdemeanor assault, pretty much has the same elements as common law civil battery:
an act by the defendant
intent to commit the act by the defendant-- not accidental contact
a harmful or offensive touching
lack o' consent by the plaintiff... of course since this is criminal, there is no plaintiff, so instead you got the victim.
that's it, and same as civil (which means we are talking about money damages instead o' loss o' liberty for the defendant,) the standard o' review for the tryer of fact is a reasonable person standard insofar as what constitutes a harmful or offensive touching, although you need evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to convict.
our "pretty much" is doing some heavy lifting and is what has caused confusion, 'cause as is typical, when yahoos write laws, they feel need to add... flair. every word matters. the final jury instructions read pretty much what we got above, but...
regardless,
am personal rooting for sandwich guy, but this isn't a tough call which needs multiple days o' deliberation... save that at least somebody on the jury most certain doesn't want to find this guy guilty. yeah, there were not even the possibility o' meaningful harm in the sandwich toss, and proving that sandwich guy intended to harm the cbp officer is beyond mere improbable, but is difficult to imagine the reasonable person who wouldn't see being pelted with a sandwich as punctuation to a verbal tirade as constituting an offensive act.
however, we will note the court messed this whole thing up by providing less than clear jury instructions, which again, is surprisingly understandable seeing as how none o' the lawyers or the judge has needed to consider jury instructions for criminal misdemeanor assault previous to the start o' the sandwich guy trial.
in any event, if somebody we trusted had told us that this would be, at minimum, a five day trial, we woulda' suggested they were chemical altered.
HA! Good Fun!
ps a reminder, a misdemeanor may include jail time up to one year. as such, from the defendant's pov, this is hardly the nothingburger people would reflexive assume it to be.