A magistrate judge said the government owed Edward Dana an apology for filing federal felony charges it couldn’t convince a grand jury to support.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office moved to dismiss felony charges Thursday against a man it accused of threatening President Donald Trump and said prosecutors will instead pursue misdemeanor charges in D.C. Superior Court.
Last month, prosecutors filed federal charges alleging Edward Alexander Dana threatened to kill the president of the United States — a felony that carries up to five years in prison. But a D.C. grand jury declined to indict Dana last week in one of at least nine known instances so far in which grand juries have refused charges sought by federal prosecutors. The decision to drop federal charges and pursue a case in local court will significantly reduce the potential penalties prosecutors could seek if Dana were convicted.
Prior to moving to dismiss the federal case Thursday, prosecutors filed four misdemeanor counts in D.C. Superior Court accusing Dana of damaging a light fixture outside of Bar Japonais on 14th Street and of attempted threats against employees of the restaurant, DC Police officers who took him into custody and Trump. All four counts carry a maximum sentence of six months in jail.
According to affidavits filed in both district and Superior Court, Dana described himself to police as a “person with disabilities” and told them he was intoxicated. He also allegedly made a number of other unusual statements, including that he was affiliated with the Russian mafia, that he was a descendent of the Huguenots — a 17th Century group of French Protestants — and that he was going to have “Putin bomb America.” While in custody, police said he made numerous threats, including against Trump.
The move to drop the federal case against Dana drew a pointed rebuke from Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui, a former assistant U.S. attorney with the federal prosecutor’s office in D.C. Faruqui said it “fundamentally alters the arc of someone’s life” to have a federal arrest on their record — even if the charges are later dropped — and criticized the carelessness with which he said cases have been filed en masse during the federal surge in the city. He said Dana, who was held in jail for approximately a week following his arrest, deserved at minimum an apology from the government.
“Why is the government not out of sheer embarrassment and shame seeking to dismiss with prejudice and expunge the record?” Faruqui asked.
Faruqui also criticized the U.S. attorney’s office for sending a line prosecutor to file the motion, saying leadership should take responsibility when the office moves to dismiss a case.
“When I was an AUSA and something had to be dismissed or a difficult decision had to be made, the criminal chief appeared. The U.S. attorney appeared,” Faruqui said. “Because that’s what leaders do. That’s leading from the front.”
Pirro has defended her office’s charging decisions during the federal surge and has criticized D.C. grand juries for becoming “politicized.” In a lengthy post Thursday afternoon on her personal account on X, formerly Twitter, Pirro accused Faruqui of having an “allegiance to those who violate the law.”
“This judge took an oath to follow the law, yet he has allowed his politics to consistently cloud his judgment and his requirement to follow the law,” Pirro wrote. “America voted for safe communities, law and order, and this judge is the antithesis of that.”
Dana’s attorney, assistant federal public defender Elizabeth Mullin, has argued no reasoanble observer would believe he was making true threats to harm anyone. In her own motion to dismiss, Mullin said video of Dana’s arrest shows him singing and yelling “non sequitur, incomprehensible statements” — including a statement that he would “protect the constitution by any means necessary,” even if it meant killing the president. Mullin said longstanding Supreme Court precedent makes it clear statements like that were political hyperbole and not true threats.
“A 15-year-old would know what he said against the president is not criminalized speech,” Mullin said.
Dana made his initial appearance in Superior Court Thursday afternoon, where he pleaded not guilty and was released on conditions that include a stay away order.
Faruqui ordered the government to file something by 5 p.m. Thursday telling him how it would avoid filing unsupported charged against “another Mr. Dana” in the future, and directed prosecutors to file something by Monday afternoon as to why Dana should not have the record of his arrest expunged. Pirro’s office later requested that the deadline for both filings be set for Monday.