US Attorney drops 'Broadview Six' case, defense attorneys claim misconduct by prosecutors

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Northern District of Illinois U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros appeared in U.S. District Judge April Perry's courtroom Thursday and dismissed the misdemeanor charges against the remaining four members of the "Broadview Six." This case was one of the first-high profile cases charging protesters around the Operation Midway Blitz federal surge.

ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer told the ABC7 I-Team the alleged misconduct of prosecutors in this case has serious implications for trust in the federal justice system. Defense attorneys are calling it an intentional coverup by the U.S. Attorney's office, all centered around redacted transcripts of grand jury testimony. That grand jury indicted six people, including progressive politicians, who protested outside of the Broadview ICE facility. All charges have now been dropped.

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"It is a cover-up of what was happening, and it is a cover-up that continued today," defense attorney Joshua Herman said.

He and other attorneys for the defendants talked to the press after their shocking win in federal court following accusations of prosecutorial misconduct and manipulation of a grand jury.

It all stems from questions over redacted grand jury transcripts that attorneys for the "Broadview Six" protesters claim tainted the entire case.

"It should shame every single American that we have a Department of Justice that hides behind the grand jury in selling these indictments," said defense attorney and former federal prosecutor,

"It's terrible conduct for anybody, much less a federal prosecutor," attorney Christopher Parente said. "There's going to be repercussions for them, probably not from this DOJ, but hopefully the Bar Association or someone else, Illinois Bar, will take care of it."

Boutros apologized to Judge Perry in court, telling her a prosecutor misled grand jury members by "vouching" for evidence by making improper claims about how strong it was.

"Vouching is what you literally would tell the grand jurors, 'Hey, don't worry, I wouldn't bring a case unless it's just' like you can't do that, right?" Parente said.

Boutros said, "I will tell your honor that as upset as you are, and have been, I too had not seen conduct like that, and it upset me which is why we did dismiss that indictment."

Attorneys for the press argued in court Thursday those transcripts should be made public in the name of transparency and trust in court proceedings.

Soffer said it is rare for the U.S. Attorney to drop a case in court themselves.

"You can probably count on one hand the number of times it happens at this level. So, clearly there was great sensitivity to this case, to whatever issues may have been discovered that were going on, and that led to a decision by the top personnel, we'll be the top person to dismiss it personally," Soffer said.

The I-Team has learned there are expected to be sanction hearings for prosecutors involved in the case.

"That was not a mistake, they intentionally redacted portions of the grand jury transcripts to even keep the court from seeing it. It is shocking. It is absolutely shocking," said defense attorney Nancy DePodesta.

U.S. Attorney Boutros claimed in court he did not believe prosecutors intentionally made mistakes in this case. Defense attorneys disputed that. This marks another astonishing loss for the Northern District U.S. Attorney's Office that has yet to secure a conviction on any criminal matter related to Operation Midway Blitz immigration enforcement.

A court transcript of what transpired during a portion of Thursday's court hearing closed to the public was unsealed Thursday evening.

According to the transcript, the closed hearing included in attendance the remaining Broadview Six defendants, their attorneys, and three federal prosecutors.

At the start of the hearing, U.S. District Judge Perry did not mince words.

"There are significantly bigger problems than mis-instructions to the grand jurors," Perry said. "I will say that I was incredibly shocked by the redactions that were made. I have read hundreds, if not thousands, of grand jury transcripts involving prosecutors who are the most junior of prosecutors to several U.S. Attorneys who appeared before the grand jury. I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts."

Perry continued, "I do believe deeply in the presumption of regularity and that most government attorneys are doing the best they can to do the right thing. That trust has been broken."

Perry told the attorneys in the courtroom that what happened before the grand jury could lead to sanctions for prosecutorial misconduct.

"I think there is also a potential here, separate and apart from the merits of this case and how this case ends up proceeding, on sanctions for prosecutorial misconduct and for potential ethical violations, including lack of candor to the Court," Perry said.

Full transcript of hearing, with closed-door session starting on page 18: