Chicago US Attorney drops 3rd case citing 'serious irregularities' focusing on prosecutor's conduct

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Another surprising move from Chicago's top prosecutor. U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros dropped another case based on what he called "serious irregularities" with grand jury proceedings. Boutros is now pledging to review all cases, going back decades, connected to that prosecutor.

"If you can't do it the right way in a case like this, then nobody is safe, no indictment is safe, as far as I'm concerned. And I'm sure they're going to uncover more issues," said Damon Cheronis who represents one of the four men who were just cleared of arson charges. His firm also represents one of the Broadview Six who had their charges dismissed over similar allegations of misconduct by prosecutors.

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"The same conduct that we brought to light in the Broadview Six case was happening in this case, which was not a high-profile case, it was sort of a garden variety arson case, and you had the same vouching, the same ex parte communications," said Cheronis. "So, you know the government had a decision to make, dismiss it or potentially go to a hearing and have to sort of explain that stuff."

The government chose to dismiss the case rather than having their conduct examined under oath.

A motion to drop charges against the four men was filed Monday by Andrew Boutros himself after he said the government discovered "serious irregularities in the grand jury presentations."

"I think he's making a statement that he wants to take responsibility for this, and he wants to be the person to answer the questions going forward," Cheronis told the I-Team.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman quickly granted the motion to dismiss.

Cheronis said the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago continues to face an unprecedented credibility problem, resulting in three cases dropped. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg was involved in those cases.

"It's a significant issue that they're dealing with, and I think they're trying to deal with it the best way they can right now," said Cheronis.

Mecklenburg spoke about the arson case with grand jurors outside of official proceedings saying she "can prove this case," according to court filings, going on to say, "we don't catch the smart ones," "most of them aren't as smart as they think."

Prosecutors are not permitted to speak to grand jury members about a case outside of official proceedings, nor are they allowed to vouch for evidence presented.

Boutros stated "given what appears to be a high error rate in this experienced prosecutor's grand jury presentations, the government is, and will be, conducting an individualized review" of all of Mecklenburg's cases and interactions with grand juries from the start of her employment with the office in 2007, potentially hundreds of cases over nearly two decades.

"I think they're going to do everything they can to make sure that this is done the right way, because if not, this is what happens," said Cheronis.

The I-Team reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the status of Sheri Mecklenburg's employment. They referred us to the Department of Justice and Office of Personnel Management. We have not yet heard back. We also reached out to Mecklenburg, but she did not respond.