After making a federal case out of a thrown sandwich, prosecutors failed to convince a jury at Washington, D.C., that a man known virally as “Sandwich Guy” assaulted a Border Patrol agent when he threw a sandwich at him. The jury deliberated for several hours Wednesday and Thursday before delivering the verdict.

A former Department of Justice employee, Sean C. Dunn, was charged with misdemeanor assault in connection with the incident. Mr. Dunn did not testify in the case and the defense rested without calling any witnesses.

The agent who was hit, Gregory Lairmore, testified on Tuesday that he could feel the impact of the sandwich through his ballistic vest and it “exploded all over my uniform.”

Mr. Lairmore testified he could “smell the onions and the mustard.” Mr. Lairmore said he had an onion hanging on his radio antenna after the sandwich hit him.

The defense questioned Mr. Lairmore about his account of the incident, calling him a “seasoned officer,” and showed an Instagram video of a sandwich on the ground after hitting him. The defense said Mr. Lairmore wouldn’t be able to tell what was on the sandwich, be it lettuce, tomato, or mayonnaise.  “In fact, that sandwich hasn’t exploded at all,” the defense stated.

Mr. Lairmore said he had no way to verify if the sandwich in the video was the one that struck him.

The defense then questioned Mr. Lairmore about gag gifts that his colleagues gave him after the incident, including a plush sandwich and a “Felony Footlong” patch. Defense attorney Sabrina Schroff said they showed the agents recognized the case as “overblown” and “worthy of a joke.”

The prosecutor used its closing argument to try to convince jurors that the sandwich throw was, in fact, an assault. “Having a sandwich spiked on your chest. Is that offensive to a person of reasonable sensibilities? Certainly. We have an assault,” Assistant United States Attorney Michael DiLorenzo said.

In her closing argument, defense lawyer Sabrina Sharoff likened the incident to an 8-year-old throwing a stuffed animal at a parent during a bedtime tantrum. The defense claimed the prosecution was vindictive and selective.

Mr. Dunn was protesting the deployment of federal offices in the city as part of President Trump’s crime-fighting plan when he screamed at the agents and then threw the sandwich in a busy nightclub district little more than a mile from the White House.

Before the toss, authorities said Mr. Dunn shouted, “F*** you! You f***ing fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”

The trial began on Monday — which happened to be National Sandwich Day. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols described the trial at the start as “the simplest case in the history of the world.”

Mr. Dunn has become somewhat of a folk hero among critics of the armed federal presence in the heavily Democratic city. Some residents have plastered Banksy-style posters of Mr. Dunn around the city and he became the inspiration for Halloween costumes this year.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office decided to go ahead with the prosecution of Mr. Dunn on a misdemeanor assault charge after a federal grand jury rejected an attempt to secure a felony assault indictment. Potential jurors who were not selected expressed skepticism of the case.

“I don’t know how a DC jury would convict,” one unnamed dismissed potential juror told CNN.

“Didn’t he already lose his job?” another man dismissed from the jury pool asked a reporter.

Mr. Dunn pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge in September.