Op-ed | Broadview 6 debacle: Judge shocked' and sickened' by prosecutorial subversion of grand jury | amNewYork

Six progressive politicians, candidates, and activists were arrested after protesters surrounded an ICE agent’s vehicle and pushed and scratched it while it approached a federal facility in Broadview. The arrests were made during the Midway Blitz deportation campaign and charged conspiracy to obstruct ICE operations. After dismissals, more than two-thirds of accused federal non-immigration defendants in Chicago were cleared. Defense attorneys sought access to secret grand jury proceedings, and Judge April Perry ordered prosecutors to provide unredacted transcripts. Prosecutors initially provided redacted materials, then agreed to dismiss indictments after the judge ordered unredacted filings. Perry later reviewed the unredacted transcripts and found serious prosecutorial violations, including vouching for defendants’ guilt, private conversations with grand jurors to influence indictments, and removing grand jurors who disagreed with the government’s case.

"The defendants — six progressive politicians, candidates, and activists — were part of a larger group of protesters who surrounded an ICE agent's vehicle and pushed and scratched it as it approached a federal facility in Broadview. The high-profile arrests for conspiracy to obstruct ICE operations were made during the federal government's Midway Blitz deportation campaign. With Thursday's dismissals, more than two-thirds of those accused of federal non-immigration crimes in Chicago have been cleared."

"Since grand jury proceedings are secret, last week's hearing followed months of efforts by defense attorneys to learn what happened inside the grand jury. They asked the Federal District Judge April Perry to take a look. She agreed and ordered the prosecutors to give her transcripts of the grand jury proceedings. But the prosecutors gave her a redacted version, with many pages missing. After Judge Perry ordered the prosecutors to file unredacted transcripts, the prosecutors suddenly agreed to dismiss the indictments."

"But the defense attorneys continued to press for disclosure, and Judge Perry agreed take a look again. She was stunned by what she learned. In language rarely used by a judge, she rebuked the prosecutors. I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts, Perry said. She was shocked and sickened by what she saw."

"Judge Perry identified the most serious violations by the prosecutors. First, prosecutors vouched for the defendants' guilt, meaning they placed their personal credibility and trustworthiness on the line in support of the charges, in effect assuring the grand jurors that the defendants were guilty. Second, prosecutors conversed privately with grand jurors about the case, apparently to influence them to indict. Third, prosecutors removed grand jurors from the panel who disagreed with the government's case."

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