\nAt the Broadview ICE facility, an ICE agent tried to run dozens of protesters over with an SUV as we walked on a public crosswalk.<\/p>\n
He kept driving for about a full football field until ICE barraged us with pepper balls. pic.twitter.com\/bGX7vh5o84<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Kat Abughazaleh (@KatAbughazaleh) September 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
On October 23, a grand jury charged<\/a> six of the protesters with multiple felonies, including conspiring to prevent an officer from discharging his duties by force, intimidation, or threat. Those protesters included former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park Village Trustee Brian Straw, Cook County Board of Commissioners candidate Catherine Sharp, and Cook County Democratic Committee Member Michael Rabbitt.<\/p>\n
The case had obvious First Amendment issues, and Chris Parente, attorney for Brian Straw, agitated for months to get the grand jury transcript. Parente had reason to suspect that the US Attorney\u2019s Office for the Northern District of Illinois would play fast and loose, as they did with another of his clients, Marimar Martinez. Martinez was shot multiple times by ICE agents, and then charged with ramming the agents\u2019 car. In fact, the agents rammed Martinez\u2019s car, and the charges were later dropped.<\/p>\n
\n \n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nIn this case, the US Attorneys accused Parente of \u201chysterically speculating about perceived misconduct in what was the normal practice.\u201d And then on April 29, the government announced that it would be filing a superseding information, dropping the felony charges and proceeding to trial on misdemeanors only. They argued that this would obviate the need for the judge to examine the grand jury transcripts, which were no longer relevant.<\/p>\n
Smelling a rat, Parente persisted<\/a>, even after the government produced a partial transcript with some redactions due to \u201cIT\u201d problems.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Judge Perry agreed to look at the unredacted transcript, after which she ordered \u201cany AUSA who participated in the decision to redact portions of the grand jury transcripts, whether on the trial team or at the supervisory level\u201d to show up for a hearing yesterday morning.<\/p>\n
And then shit REALLY hit the fan.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how Judge Perry described<\/a> what was behind those redactions:<\/p>\n
\nFirst, improper prosecutorial vouching to the grand jurors, with the AUSA putting her personal credibility and trustworthiness on the line in support of the charges.<\/p>\n
Second, improper prosecutorial communications of a substantive nature with the grand jurors outside of the grand jury room. <\/p>\n
And, third, the prosecutor excusing grand jurors who disagreed with the government\u2019s case from the deliberations process. <\/p>\n
Which brings me to problem Number 4, which is the fact that all of this was redacted out of the versions of the transcripts that I got. And frankly, it is that that I find the most problematic.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Oh, is that all? <\/em>Just a little vouching and jury tampering, plus a smattering of ex parte communications?<\/p>\n
Actually, no, it\u2019s not. Turns out there were multiple presentations, and the prosecutors got no-billed at least once before getting proactive and weeding out unsympathetic members of the panel.<\/p>\n
This casts US Attorney Andrew Boutros\u2019s decision to drop the felony charges on the eve of disclosure in rather a different light. And Boutros\u2019s appearance in the courtroom yesterday, where he announced that the government was dropping all charges, seems not to have helped matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are significantly undercutting your mea culpa here by standing behind the charges and continuing to vilify these particular defendants,\u201d Judge Perry snapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is my very sincere belief, Your Honor, that no prosecutor acted intentionally in misleading you, and that there was no desire to mislead the Court and no deliberate misconduct on the part of the prosecutors,\u201d Boutros wheedled, even as he admitted that he knew in real time that a prosecutor in his office had committed gross misconduct.<\/p>\n
Parente then jumped to his feet to point out that you don\u2019t inadvertently claim that \u201cIT\u201d ate the part of the transcript which blows up your case, even as you\u2019re affecting indignation that the defendant\u2019s lawyer is questioning your integrity.<\/p>\n
The judge ended the hearing by reserving the question of sanctions for later. And this afternoon Parente moved<\/a> for a preservation order, so that the DOJ wouldn\u2019t destroy evidence of its little ethical oopsie. So, even though the case is over, it looks like the fun is just getting started.<\/p>\n
And meanwhile, Sheri Mecklenberg, the lawyer who allegedly presented this case to the grand jury, has been relieved of her duties<\/a> as a Senate Judiciary Committee staffer. Which is just as well, really \u2026 she\u2019ll probably be kinda busy for a while. <\/p>\n
\nLiz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
The post Goodbye Broadview 6, Hello Broadview Sanctions<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Yesterday the case against protesters for criminal making an ICE agent late to work exploded in spectacular fashion in a Chicago courtroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Judge April Perry told the parties. \u201cI have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prosecution of the \u201cBroadview 6\u201d arose out of a minor confrontation on September 25, 2025, when protesters outside an immigration detention facility momentarily blocked an ICE agent\u2019s car as he tried to enter the building. <\/p>\n
\n \n\nAt the Broadview ICE facility, an ICE agent tried to run dozens of protesters over with an SUV as we walked on a public crosswalk.<\/p>\n
He kept driving for about a full football field until ICE barraged us with pepper balls. pic.twitter.com\/bGX7vh5o84<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Kat Abughazaleh (@KatAbughazaleh) September 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
On October 23, a grand jury charged<\/a> six of the protesters with multiple felonies, including conspiring to prevent an officer from discharging his duties by force, intimidation, or threat. Those protesters included former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park Village Trustee Brian Straw, Cook County Board of Commissioners candidate Catherine Sharp, and Cook County Democratic Committee Member Michael Rabbitt.<\/p>\n
The case had obvious First Amendment issues, and Chris Parente, attorney for Brian Straw, agitated for months to get the grand jury transcript. Parente had reason to suspect that the US Attorney\u2019s Office for the Northern District of Illinois would play fast and loose, as they did with another of his clients, Marimar Martinez. Martinez was shot multiple times by ICE agents, and then charged with ramming the agents\u2019 car. In fact, the agents rammed Martinez\u2019s car, and the charges were later dropped.<\/p>\n
\n \n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nIn this case, the US Attorneys accused Parente of \u201chysterically speculating about perceived misconduct in what was the normal practice.\u201d And then on April 29, the government announced that it would be filing a superseding information, dropping the felony charges and proceeding to trial on misdemeanors only. They argued that this would obviate the need for the judge to examine the grand jury transcripts, which were no longer relevant.<\/p>\n
Smelling a rat, Parente persisted<\/a>, even after the government produced a partial transcript with some redactions due to \u201cIT\u201d problems.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Judge Perry agreed to look at the unredacted transcript, after which she ordered \u201cany AUSA who participated in the decision to redact portions of the grand jury transcripts, whether on the trial team or at the supervisory level\u201d to show up for a hearing yesterday morning.<\/p>\n
And then shit REALLY hit the fan.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how Judge Perry described<\/a> what was behind those redactions:<\/p>\n
\nFirst, improper prosecutorial vouching to the grand jurors, with the AUSA putting her personal credibility and trustworthiness on the line in support of the charges.<\/p>\n
Second, improper prosecutorial communications of a substantive nature with the grand jurors outside of the grand jury room. <\/p>\n
And, third, the prosecutor excusing grand jurors who disagreed with the government\u2019s case from the deliberations process. <\/p>\n
Which brings me to problem Number 4, which is the fact that all of this was redacted out of the versions of the transcripts that I got. And frankly, it is that that I find the most problematic.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Oh, is that all? <\/em>Just a little vouching and jury tampering, plus a smattering of ex parte communications?<\/p>\n
Actually, no, it\u2019s not. Turns out there were multiple presentations, and the prosecutors got no-billed at least once before getting proactive and weeding out unsympathetic members of the panel.<\/p>\n
This casts US Attorney Andrew Boutros\u2019s decision to drop the felony charges on the eve of disclosure in rather a different light. And Boutros\u2019s appearance in the courtroom yesterday, where he announced that the government was dropping all charges, seems not to have helped matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are significantly undercutting your mea culpa here by standing behind the charges and continuing to vilify these particular defendants,\u201d Judge Perry snapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is my very sincere belief, Your Honor, that no prosecutor acted intentionally in misleading you, and that there was no desire to mislead the Court and no deliberate misconduct on the part of the prosecutors,\u201d Boutros wheedled, even as he admitted that he knew in real time that a prosecutor in his office had committed gross misconduct.<\/p>\n
Parente then jumped to his feet to point out that you don\u2019t inadvertently claim that \u201cIT\u201d ate the part of the transcript which blows up your case, even as you\u2019re affecting indignation that the defendant\u2019s lawyer is questioning your integrity.<\/p>\n
The judge ended the hearing by reserving the question of sanctions for later. And this afternoon Parente moved<\/a> for a preservation order, so that the DOJ wouldn\u2019t destroy evidence of its little ethical oopsie. So, even though the case is over, it looks like the fun is just getting started.<\/p>\n
And meanwhile, Sheri Mecklenberg, the lawyer who allegedly presented this case to the grand jury, has been relieved of her duties<\/a> as a Senate Judiciary Committee staffer. Which is just as well, really \u2026 she\u2019ll probably be kinda busy for a while. <\/p>\n
\nLiz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
The post Goodbye Broadview 6, Hello Broadview Sanctions<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yesterday the case against protesters for criminal making an ICE agent late to work exploded in spectacular fashion in a Chicago courtroom. \u201cI 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,\u201d Judge April Perry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":152660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/law-and-chaos-logo-liz-dye-300x153-hWZt9v.jpg?fit=300%2C153&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}