* NY Times: “Failed Immigration Cases Leave Chicago Prosecutor’s Office Reeling”…
[The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago] brought a wave of doomed cases that accused protesters and immigrants of assaulting federal officers. That accelerated an exodus of veteran prosecutors, some of whom felt they’d been wrongly pressured into pursuing the charges, former prosecutors said in interviews.
The heads of all seven sections of the Chicago office’s criminal division have left in the past year, as have many of their successors and deputies. […]
The New York Times identified assault cases against 62 people that Mr. Boutros’s office brought under the once-obscure federal statute 18 U.S.C. 111. They have flopped at an extraordinary rate. Some 59 charges were abandoned by prosecutors or dismissed by judges, an analysis by The Times found. Only one resulted in a guilty plea, and there have been no convictions in court. Two cases are pending.
That 2 percent success rate is a stark reversal for the Justice Department, which wins an average of more than 90 percent of criminal cases. […]
Gregory Bovino, the former senior Border Patrol official who led Midway Blitz, rejected any criticism of the assault cases. He said in an interview that Mr. Boutros wasn’t nearly aggressive enough in bringing them, calling him “as weak as a limp dishrag.”
Go read the rest.
- Thomas Paine - Monday, Jul 20, 26 @ 9:40 am:
=== “as weak as a limp dishrag.” ===
As I recall, Boutros repeatedly discovered that ICE agents lied in their reports and when interviewed by DOJ during case prep.
One of the people caught lying was Bovino.
- Keyrock - Monday, Jul 20, 26 @ 9:48 am:
Fox 32 did an interview with Boutros where he comes off as a complete and total jerk.
https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/fmc-ueom330wcejoqx16
The interview is filled with bluster and evasions.
- Anon E Moose - Monday, Jul 20, 26 @ 9:48 am:
Where did Bovino go to law school? /s
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Monday, Jul 20, 26 @ 10:00 am:
“The heads of all seven sections of the Chicago office’s criminal division have left in the past year, as have many of their successors and deputies.”
I spent over thirty years in law enforcement.
There is no creature on God’s green earth with a better sense of survival than a lawyer.
The competent ones no what’s waiting in the not-too-distant future.
- Juice - Monday, Jul 20, 26 @ 10:18 am:
A couple of thoughts on this.
I believe that Boutros was not confirmed by the Senate, and his time has expired, so he was hired by the Court itself. Doesn’t it make more sense for our elected to officials to call on the court to remove him from that position instead of calling on him to resign, which he is clearly not going to do.
Now, not to defend Boutros, but one of the reasons why they have not been able to bring cases is because Greg Bovino and his minions within CBP and ICE are a bunch of snowflakes. They have simply taken terrible cases to DOJ that never should have been prosecuted. Boutros deserves blame for bringing those cases anyways, but given the dynamics within DHS, DOJ and the White House, I can’t imagine he would have had much of a choice even if he didn’t want to bring them. (Though I suspect he had no issue doing so.)
But if CBP and ICE were conducting law enforcement activities based on the actual law instead of their feelings, these cases never would have been brought, and a number of US residents (including citizens) would still be alive today.
- Pundent - Monday, Jul 20, 26 @ 10:45 am:
The reality is that very few US attorneys expect to be career prosecutors. The office is a gateway to more lucrative careers in private practice or corporate law. It’s historically been considered to be a highly valued proving ground due to its reputation for thoroughly working up cases and stellar record in the court room. The historical success rate was achieved through hard disciplined work.
That reputation has now been turned upside down. And for the attorneys who continue to work in that office the role may have the opposite effect in achieving career success. It’s no wonder in the current environment why attorneys would be looking to get out before their own reputations are tainted through association.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Monday, Jul 20, 26 @ 10:46 am:
“Boutros deserves blame for bringing those cases anyways, but given the dynamics within DHS, DOJ and the White House, I can’t imagine he would have had much of a choice even if he didn’t want to bring them.”
He has a million choices. Best one he could select would be to quit. That he doesn’t quit and instead brings what everybody knows are BS cases against American citizens says everything you need to know. Nobody needs to make excuses for these grown adults with powerful jobs who are all fully aware of what they are doing.
- H-W - Monday, Jul 20, 26 @ 10:53 am:
=== One of the people caught lying was Bovino. ===
Unfortunately for America, many people in positions of authority in our federal government could care less about honesty, integrity, justice, etc. They are driven solely by the quest for power .
Sociologist Max Weber discussed multiple forms of power (the ability to get what you want with or without consent). Authority comes from at least three sources, all associated with the consent of the governed. On the other hand, coercion is the form of power we see here - lacking consent and only requiring superior force.
Bovino and ICE in general represents a coercive force in America, one that is premised on the lack of consent and intentionally so.