<p>Four months after the spectacular collapse of <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/06/27/broadview-six-boutros-chicago" target="_blank" >the “Broadview Six” case</a>, defense attorneys argued Tuesday that "significant failings"<b> </b>by Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros demonstrate<b> </b>the need for an independent special counsel to determine what went wrong with the tainted prosecution.</p><p>At "bare minimum,"<b> </b>they said, answers are needed about Boutros' recent admission that he's been in possession since last fall of an <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/06/09/broadview-six-grand-jury-midway-blitz-boutros-trump" target="_blank" >October 2025 grand jury transcript</a> documenting apparent misconduct by one of his prosecutors.</p><p>That misconduct occurred while the feds were seeking an indictment against six individuals who pushed back against the Trump administration's Operation Midway Blitz deportation campaign. <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/29/kat-abughazaleh-conspiracy-indictment-broadview-protests-donald-trump-deportation-campaign" target="_blank" >They were indicted</a> last October for an alleged conspiracy to impede a federal agent, but the charges have since been dropped.</p><div class="RelatedList Enhancement" data-module data-align-center>
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<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/08/17/broadview-six-judge-april-perry-trump-vance" >‘Broadview 6' judge has to decide whether to hold prosecutors accountable after exposing misconduct</a>
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<p>Boutros has said he doesn't remember reading the transcript after he received it last fall. He told U.S. District Judge April Perry in May he'd only learned of the misconduct<b> </b>in April.</p><p>But defense attorneys hammered away at the revelation in a <a class="Link" href="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/52/c7/09aa531f4c60b1bb7f4682e351ff/usavrabbittbrief91526.pdf" target="_blank" >61-page court document</a><b> </b>filed late Tuesday.</p><p>"The roots of this prosecution … were poisoned from the start," they wrote.</p><p>Their filing might finally bring an end to the monthslong<b> </b>back-and-forth between defense attorneys and prosecutors over what should be done about the doomed prosecution. The <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/05/21/broadview-ice-protest-grand-jury-transcript-kat-abughazaleh-trump" target="_blank" >May 21 collapse</a> of the case led to repeated calls for hearings over the conduct of Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri<b> </b>Mecklenburg, the prosecutor at the center of the controversy. Questions also remain about the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/06/23/broadview-six-boutros-mecklenburg-loretto-hospital" target="_blank" >roles played by others</a> in Boutros' office.</p><p>Now, with such questions fully briefed, <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/08/17/broadview-six-judge-april-perry-trump-vance" target="_blank" >all eyes will turn to Perry</a>. </p><p>It's not clear how — or when — Perry will hand down a ruling, though. She could summon lawyers to her courtroom and hand it down from the bench. She might hold a hearing. Or, she might drop a written ruling on the court docket without warning.</p><p>Meanwhile, the new defense filing<b> </b>invites the judge<b> </b>to demand documents from prosecutors. Specifically,<b> </b>they suggest<b> </b>the feds turn over<b> </b>"any communications"<b> </b>between Boutros' office and Justice Department officials in Washington. The records could be given only to Perry for her review, they wrote.</p><p>Defense attorneys raised several questions about Boutros' possession of the grand jury transcript. They pointed to his "tough stance on prosecuting individuals who purportedly assault law enforcement officers" and noted he'd "declared these cases to be of great significance."</p><p>The transcript in question recorded the events of Oct. 9, when grand jurors initially rejected the case against the "Broadview Six" in a rebuke known as a no-bill. Boutros has said he<b> </b>received<b> </b>a copy<b> </b>of that transcript<b> </b>by email<b> </b>Oct. 14.</p><p>"The government wants this court to believe that [Boutros] did not review the very transcript of the proceeding where the no-bill was obtained," the defense attorneys wrote. </p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>A crowd surrounds a federal agent’s vehicle outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview on Sept. 26, 2025.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>They questioned why the transcript was ordered, who ordered it, who sent it to Boutros, and why?</p><p>"Did Mr. Boutros specifically request the grand jury transcript?" they wrote.</p><p>They also accused Boutros' office of "actively evading disclosure of the truth about Main Justice's role in the case."</p><p>The “Broadview Six” conspiracy case<b> </b>revolved around a Midway Blitz protest<b> </b>in September 2025. <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/29/kat-abughazaleh-conspiracy-indictment-broadview-protests-donald-trump-deportation-campaign" target="_blank" >Prosecutors alleged</a> that a crowd pushed and damaged a federal agent’s SUV. But from that crowd, only six were charged. Most of them were involved in local Democratic politics.</p><p><a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/06/01/broadview-six-midway-blitz-abughazaleh-straw-rabbit-perry-trump-ice-crime" target="_blank" >The defendants</a> were then-congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw, then-Cook County Board candidate Catherine “Cat” Sharp, 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson Michael Rabbitt, musician<b> </b>Joselyn<b> </b>Walsh<b> </b>and<b> </b>Abughazaleh campaign worker Andre Martin.</p><p>The feds <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/03/12/chicago-midway-blitz-immigration-trump-kat-abughazaleh-sharp-joselyn-walsh-broadview-six" target="_blank" >dropped charges</a> against Walsh and Sharp in March. Then, on the eve of trial in late May,<b> </b>defense attorneys convinced Perry to review unredacted transcripts of grand jury proceedings in the case. The feds had previously given her redacted versions.</p><p>Perry later said she was <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/05/21/broadview-ice-protest-grand-jury-transcript-kat-abughazaleh-trump" target="_blank" >“incredibly shocked”</a><b> </b>to find three types of prosecutorial misconduct in the unredacted transcripts. Mecklenburg<b> </b>is accused of speaking with grand jurors outside the grand jury room and of excusing grand jurors who didn’t agree with the feds’ case. She’s also accused of a forbidden practice known as “vouching.”</p><p>It occurs when prosecutors put their personal credibility on the line to support criminal charges. Grand jurors are expected to hand up indictments based on evidence, not the goodwill of a prosecutor who already has the upper hand in the grand jury room.</p><p>Mecklenburg<b> </b>on Oct. 9 told the grand jury, "I don't charge people unless I'm absolutely sure."</p><p>Perry concluded that her trust in federal prosecutors had “been broken.”</p><div class="RelatedList Enhancement" data-module data-align-center>
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<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/06/27/broadview-six-boutros-chicago" >What to know about the ‘Broadview Six’ scandal rocking Chicago’s federal courthouse</a>
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<p>Four weeks after Perry revealed what she’d found, defense attorneys for some of the former defendants asked Perry to take the extraordinary step of <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/06/17/broadview-6-want-special-counsel-to-probe-boutros-office-trumps-justice-department-for-criminal-contempt" target="_blank" >appointing<b> </b>a special counsel</a> to investigate Boutros<b> </b>and other Justice Department officials for criminal contempt.</p><p>Boutros has since acknowledged <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/08/05/boutros-broadview-six-perry" target="_blank" >“mistakes were made.”</a><b> </b>But he said he’s put reforms in place to prevent them from happening again. He noted his office is not accused of explicitly violating any order from Perry regarding the grand jury transcripts, but he admitted the “better course”<b> </b>would have been to give her unredacted copies of the grand jury transcripts in the first place.</p><p>Meanwhile, his office has worked to manage a credibility crisis that has not been limited to Perry’s courtroom. Multiple judges questioned their ability to trust federal prosecutors and agents this summer, and some threatened to hold hearings.</p><p>“The court’s message has been clearly heard and there is no need to do more,” Boutros told Perry in a 52-page court filing Aug. 4. “The office has not taken lightly this court’s statement about losing trust.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center><div class="Enhancement-item">
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