Dick Durbin Cuts Ties With Sheri Mecklenburg Over Broadview Six
Dick Durbin cut ties with Sheri Mecklenburg on Friday after misconduct allegations surfaced in the Broadview Six prosecution. Mecklenburg had been serving as counsel detailed to the Senate Judiciary Committee while also working as one of the prosecutors in the case.
The move followed U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’s dismissal of all charges days before the criminal trial of the remaining Broadview Six members was supposed to start. Durbin’s office said, “Senator Durbin agrees with Judge Perry's concerns about this deeply flawed prosecution.”
April Perry and the grand jury record
U.S. District Judge April Perry had raised the possibility of prosecutorial misconduct in the case. Defense attorneys said redactions and missing pages in grand jury transcripts showed an intentional coverup by the U.S. Attorney’s office, and the ABC7 I-Team obtained a copy of unsealed court testimony that had been closed to the public.
In that unsealed transcript, Mecklenburg was referenced as vouching for evidence before the grand jury. Perry told the court, “Mistakes happen. They happen to all of us. But as I tell my children, you own it. You admit to it. You apologize for it, and you move on. What you do not do is hide it.” She added, “That trust has been broken.”
Matthew Skiba’s account
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Skiba told Perry he had only worked for the USAO office for two months and said the Broadview Six grand jury was the second in his career. He also said, “Ms. Mecklenburg is not here to defend herself. I am not trying to deflect blame, but I was with a 20-years-plus senior veteran.”
Durbin’s office said, “While the Senate Judiciary Committee doesn't directly employ Sheri Mecklenburg, because of the gravity of the charges in this case, her detail from the Department of Justice has been terminated.” The decision removes a prosecutor tied to the Broadview Six from a Senate Judiciary Committee detail and leaves the fallout centered on the court record Perry criticized.
