CHICAGO — Charges against four Broadview protesters accused of impeding immigration officers were dropped Thursday after the U.S. Attorney’s Office made the extraordinary admission that federal prosecutors had committed misconduct during the grand jury proceedings that led to charges being filed in the first place.
The dismissal of all charges against the four protesters quickly followed U.S. District Judge April Perry’s decision to shelve the start of the trial in the case, which was slated for next week. Perry’s decision came after a closed-door hearing Thursday in which she outlined misconduct at the hands of prosecutors, officials said.
It’s the latest twist in one of the most high-profile prosecutions to emerge from last year’s Operation Midway Blitz. It began as a felony conspiracy case involving six defendants that turned into four facing misdemeanor charges: Kat Abughazaleh, Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin and Brian Straw. Cat Sharp and Jocelyn Walsh were also originally charged, but prosecutors dropped all charges against them in March.
After previously dropping the conspiracy case against the four remaining defendants, prosecutors moved forward with a misdemeanor charge of “impeding” a federal officer during a September protest in Broadview.
But those charges will not move forward, a decision prosecutors made after defendants and their attorneys heard a summary from Perry during the closed-door hearing Thursday about “errors” prosecutors made during the grand jury proceedings, United State’s Attorney Andrew Boutros, who is in charge of the Northern District of Illinois, said at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse Thursday.
Speaking after the hearing, defense attorneys said Perry described concerning behavior from top law enforcement officials, including “vouching,” improperly dismissing jurors and one of the prosecutors having an interaction with a juror outside of the grand jury proceedings.
After dropping the charges, Boutros went on to explain that he didn’t believe the errors were done “intentionally” by any prosecutors.
“As upset as you are … I was upset, too,” Boutros said to Perry.
As Perry concluded the hearing, she said the issue of any potential sanctions over the misconduct can wait until later. She said what mattered now was focusing on the four people who no longer have to go to trial.
“Hopefully they will never have to come back to this building” unless they chose to, Perry said.
The four former-defendants hugged their loved ones and teared up as the hearing ended.
Chris Parente, who represented Straw, called the behavior Perry described during the grand jury proceedings as “gross” misconduct.
Parente said Perry told attorneys in the closed hearing that she had never seen worse behavior by attorneys than what she read in the transcripts. Parente, who was previously an assistant U.S. attorney, agreed.
“As a former prosecutor of 15 years … I have never even heard of something as bad as what took place in this grand jury session,” Parente said.
Defense Attorney Rips Feds’ Conduct: ‘You Can’t Do That’
One of the concerning elements of misconduct was vouching, which refers to an attorney making a guarantee in front of a jury to a witness’ reliability or truthfulness, a determination that is to only be made by jury members.
Parente described the act generally as prosecutors telling the grand jury “‘Hey, don’t worry, I wouldn’t bring a case unless it’s just.’”
“Like, that’s 101 — you can’t do that,” he said.
Perry’s decision to delay the case came out of a last-minute, closed-door hearing Thursday to discuss the government’s choice to redact portions of the grand jury transcripts that led to the defendants’ indictment last fall.
Defense attorneys had been advocating for prosecutors to hand the transcripts over to the judge for review to see if there was any “misconduct” in how the prosecutors had represented the case to the grand jury.
Perry had sided with the defense team during a hearing Monday and agreed to look at the transcripts. Prosecutors announced their decision to drop the charges shortly after the Thursday hearing.
The trial was set to start Tuesday, beginning with jury selection.
Those charged in the case are mostly progressive politicos. Earlier this year, Abughazaleh unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, which represents the North Side, and Martin was her campaign field director. Rabbitt is a 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson, and Straw has served on west suburban Oak Park’s board of trustees since 2023 and practices as an attorney.
Sharp is the chief of staff for Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) and was running for Cook County Board before she suspended her campaign due to the charges. Walsh is a musician who frequented Broadview to speak out against injustice through music.
Earlier this month, prosecutors dropped the most serious felony conspiracy charge against the remaining four defendants.
Abughazaleh, Rabbitt, Martin and Straw had been facing a misdemeanor charge of “impeding” a federal officer outside as the agent drove toward the Broadview U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in September amid Operation Midway Blitz. The four and others “banged aggressively” on the vehicle, crowded together and pushed against the vehicle, the indictment claimed.
Someone also scratched the word “PIG” on the vehicle and broke a side mirror and windshield wiper, according to the indictment. Abughezaleh and others were accused of putting their hands on the hood of the vehicle and remaining “directly” in its path.
This highly unusual case saw much back-and-forth between prosecutors and defense attorneys, with the judge at one point highlighting there was a notable level of “vitriol and emotion” being displayed in briefs by both attorneys.
Defense attorneys argued the case was politically motivated, pointing to the fact that five of those originally charged were local Democratic politicians or candidates speaking out against President Donald Trump’s immigration blitz.
Prosecutors denied any influence from the White House, calling the accusations “the product of fevered paranoia and delusional speculation, not to mention grossly disingenuous and thoroughly irresponsible,” one prosecutor said.
‘Unjust Prosecution At Its Very Core’
After hearing, Abughazaleh said while it’s a huge relief for this case to be dropped, she stood firm in saying it never should have been brought in the first place.
“This was unjust prosecution at its very core, but that’s the point,” she said. “The point of cases like this is the financial and psychological torture. That is what this government is trying to do. We didn’t deserve this, and no one deserves this.”
Martin called fighting these charges “truly awful, from beginning to end,” but added that it shows that people who stand up and fight are capable of winning.
Rabbitt, echoing claims previously made by defense attorneys, said the charges were an example of the federal government weaponizing the courts against Democratic officials in Chicago.
President Donald “Trump’s administration is trying to silence us, to create fear, to break us, so we won’t speak up,” he said. “But they won’t succeed. We are winning.”
The case is the latest example of charges brought against protesters during Operation Midway Blitz to crumble in court.
A Block Club analysis found at least 32 people in the Chicago area were charged with non-immigration crimes in federal court linked to protests and other altercations with immigration agents between September and November during Operation Midway Blitz.
Nearly half of those cases were swiftly dismissed.
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