The prosecutor at the center of Chicago’s “Broadview Six” scandal broke her silence Thursday, insisting through her attorneys that she followed the instructions of U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’ front office “at every turn” during her handling of the tainted case.
In a surprise 16-page court filing, her legal team also disclosed that “the U.S. Attorney directed Ms. Mecklenburg to order an expedited copy” of an Oct. 9 grand jury transcript that documented apparent misconduct by Mecklenburg.
Boutros has acknowledged receiving the transcript by email last fall, but he said he doesn’t remember reading it. He told U.S. District Judge April Perry in May that he’d learned of problems in that grand jury session in late April.
Mecklenburg’s attorneys also wrote Thursday they were told by Boutros’ office that Mecklenburg “could be disciplined or terminated” for filing anything in court on her own behalf. Therefore, they wrote, Mecklenburg has retired from the Justice Department, effective Thursday.
“To the extent that Ms. Mecklenburg made mistakes … she owns them,” attorneys Sergio Acosta and Joel Bertocchi wrote.
However, they said attorneys for the former defendants in the case had gone too far, and “there is no basis for them to smear her with meritless accusations that she lied or acted in bad faith.”
Mecklenburg’s attorneys filed Thursday’s motion in a conditional bid to intervene in the “Broadview Six” case. They say they want to be heard if Perry grants a defense motion for a sanctions hearing or to appoint a special counsel. Perry has said she’ll hear oral arguments on those motions Oct. 1.
The “Broadview Six” prosecution revolved around an Operation Midway Blitz protest on Sept. 26, 2025. Prosecutors alleged a crowd pushed and damaged a federal agent’s SUV outside an immigration facility in west suburban Broadview. But from that crowd, only six people were charged with conspiring to impede a federal agent.
Most of the six were involved in local Democratic politics, raising questions about selective prosecution.
Those charged 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 Joselyn Walsh and Abughazaleh campaign worker Andre Martin.
The one-year anniversary of their protest is Saturday.
The feds dropped charges against Walsh and Sharp in March. Then, on the eve of trial in late May, defense attorneys convinced Perry to review unredacted transcripts of grand jury proceedings in the case. The feds had previously given her redacted versions.
Perry later said she was “incredibly shocked” to find three types of prosecutorial misconduct in the unredacted transcripts. Mecklenburg is accused of speaking with grand jurors outside the grand jury room. She’s also accused of excusing grand jurors who didn’t agree with the feds’ case — a claim Mecklenburg’s attorneys deny.
She’s also accused of a forbidden practice known as “vouching.” 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.
Perry also mentioned a fourth concern: The alleged misconduct had been redacted out of the transcripts initially given to her by the feds. She called that “the most problematic” issue of all.
But Mecklenburg withdrew from the “Broadview Six” case in February. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan has taken responsibility for the redactions, instead.
Boutros personally dropped the charges against the four defendants who nearly went to trial. He’s since acknowledged “mistakes were made.” But he said he’s implemented reforms 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.
Still, he admitted the “better course” would have been to give her unredacted copies of the grand jury transcripts in the first place.