* Tribune…
The [Broadview Six] case was indicted with much fanfare but soon showed signs of cracking. The original prosecutor who had led the grand jury, Sheri Mecklenburg, left the U.S. attorney’s office in February for a job with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Mecklenburg declined to comment.
Weeks after she left, all charges against two of the defendants were dismissed. And in April, prosecutors announced the lone felony conspiracy count was also being cut.
From February 23rd…
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee under Sen. Dick Durbin, a committee spokesperson confirmed Monday.
Mecklenburg’s LinkedIn…
The October indictment news release is here.
* The case began to publicly wobble on February 5th…
Federal prosecutors in Chicago say they fear a tainted jury pool if the public is allowed to see evidence from the upcoming conspiracy trial of six people, including four Democratic politicians, involved in protests at an immigration holding facility in Broadview.
U.S. District Judge April Perry said Thursday that, “we’re going to have to deal with that, regardless,” as she scheduled the trial for May 26.
* Back to yesterday’s Tribune story about the grand jury proceedings…
Before two separate grand juries last year, a federal prosecutor repeatedly stepped over the line, including “vouching” about the strength of the evidence, telling panel members who disagreed with the prosecution’s theory of the case that they could just leave, and having “ex parte” communications with a grand juror outside the proceedings, according to a series of bombshell revelations in court Thursday.
The first grand jury refused to return an indictment, leading to a second panel being convened, the transcript showed. That time, several grand jurors “made comments” and walked out of the proceedings. The testimony of the agent ended abruptly, and they had to start anew the next day to get the indictment.
NBC 5…
What were the errors? Unsealed court documents reveal a grand juror was kicked off for disagreeing and a prosecutor communicated with a juror outside court, among other issues.
* From the judge’s comments during yesterday’s hearing…
First, improper prosecutorial vouching to the grand jurors, with the AUSA putting her personal credibility and trustworthiness on the line in support of the charges.
Second, improper prosecutorial communications of a substantive nature with the grand jurors outside of the grand jury room.
And, third, the prosecutor excusing grand jurors who disagreed with the government’s case from the deliberations process.
Which brings me to problem Number 4, which is the fact that all of this was redacted out of the versions of the transcripts that I got.
Hat tip: Meredith Shiner, who pointed to Mecklenburg’s detail to Durbin’s committee staff with suspicion and disgust months ago.
It’s doubtful that Durbin knew of the problems with this case when he brought Mecklenburg to his committee staff. But he had to have known that she was one of the lead prosecutors of the Broadview Six, all but one of whom were politically active Democrats. As Shiner wrote, “Dick Durbin is completely oblivious to current politics and thinks he’s operating in 1986 instead of 2026.”
…Adding… The usual deflection…
