Federal prosecutors on Thursday dismissed all remaining charges with prejudice against former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh and five co-defendants, known as the Broadview Six, just days before their scheduled trial in Chicago.
The defendants originally faced felony charges following a late September protest at the Broadview immigration detention center, where authorities alleged they conspired to protest and threatened an officer.
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Case Reduced and Dismissed
U. S.
District Judge April Perry had previously reduced the felony charges to misdemeanors and dismissed two of the original six defendants from the proceedings.
The final dismissal occurred after a closed-door hearing regarding redacted grand jury transcripts, which defense attorneys reviewed to determine how the initial conspiracy charges were brought.
Assistant U. S.
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Attorney Andrew Boutros announced the dismissal publicly, noting that an initial grand jury declined to indict the individuals before a second grand jury faced internal conflict over the case merits.
The misdemeanor charges of impeding a federal officer carried a maximum penalty of one year in prison, though prosecutors never specified which defendants allegedly damaged an Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle.
Following the dismissal, defense attorneys disclosed details of alleged prosecutorial misconduct, including claims that a prosecutor improperly discussed the indictment with a juror and removed another juror who disagreed with the charges.
Defense attorney Chris Parente stated that the grand jury transcripts provided by the government were altered to obscure information from the presiding judge, and defense teams confirmed they will seek sanctions against the prosecutors.
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Abughazaleh, who recently lost the Democratic primary for the Evanston congressional seat to Mayor Daniel Biss, had been actively raising funds for her legal defense prior to the case being dropped.
