Prosecutors to Review More Than 1,000 Cases After Broadview Six Debacle

The government will review more than 1,000 grand jury cases in Chicago after federal prosecutors were forced to dismiss the case against the “Broadview Six” protesters because of prosecutorial misconduct.

Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said his office will be reviewing prosecutorial conduct in “well over 1,000” cases going back as far as 2007, noting that it is an effort to regain confidence in the grand jury process.

“They will both be retroactive, looking at what happened in some cases going all the way back almost 20 years. It will cover everything that is happening now that’s pending in court,” Boutros said at a news conference in D.C.

The Broadview Six activists, who were arrested in Broadview, Illinois, last September for protesting outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, demanded an investigation into their botched prosecution.

Revelations of misconduct came to light after U.S. District Judge April Perry unsealed grand jury transcripts, which showed that prosecutors had engaged in inappropriate conduct when securing the indictment against the protesters.

The indictment charged the group of activists with felony conspiracy charges in October, but the government dropped those charges in April. The case then proceeded on two remaining misdemeanor offenses: forcibly impeding and interfering with a federal agent and simple assault of a federal officer.

But Boutros dropped the case with prejudice, meaning the charges couldn’t be filed again, citing significant “errors” in the grand jury presentations.