Boutros Drops Broadview Six Charges After Misconduct Claims
The broadview six case collapsed on May 21 when Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros permanently dismissed the charges after apparent prosecutorial misconduct came to light. Three defendants later described the prosecution as a seven-month burden that forced them into legal costs and, for some, family strain.
Former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh said, “I think my conduct fits very well in a civilized society.” She added, “A society where we get to dissent from the government, and we expect our rights to be respected,” and called her conduct “extremely civilized conduct.”
May 21 dismissal
Boutros ended the case after six people had originally faced a felony conspiracy charge tied to a Sept. 26 crowd that surrounded an immigration agent’s SUV during an Operation Midway Blitz protest. Prosecutors said the crowd pushed, scratched and otherwise damaged the vehicle, but none of the six were specifically accused of causing the damage.
Prosecutors later sought misdemeanor trials for the final four defendants, and the case nearly went to trial this spring at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. The government later argued the conspiracy was spontaneous, while Boutros said the behavior by the six and others that day was “unacceptable in a civilized society.”
Sharp and Walsh
Former Cook County Board candidate Catherine “Cat” Sharp and musician Joselyn Walsh had their charges dropped in March, before the remaining dismissals on May 21. The Broadview Six nickname came from the six people originally charged, a label that held through the months of litigation even as the case narrowed.
After the case fell apart, Michael Rabbitt, the 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson, described the relationship among the defendants as a “very special bond.” He said, “I arrived home from overseas.”
Brian Straw, the Oak Park village trustee, said the prosecution was “a living hell for me and my family.” That account matched the broader pressure of a case that had hung over the defendants for seven months and left them paying for legal defense before the charges were dropped.
Dirksen Federal Courthouse
The collapse of the case also left Boutros facing a credibility crisis after the misconduct revelations. For the defendants, the practical change is immediate: the federal charges are gone, but the public record of the prosecution remains, along with their descriptions of the financial and family cost of defending it.
