The Charges Were Bullsh%$

2 Weeks ago, U.S. District Judge April Perry dismissed felony conspiracy charges against the "Broadview Six".

It appears that the prosecutors were f%$#ing around, and found out:

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed the felony conspiracy count against the remaining defendants in the “Broadview Six” case, further winnowing a politically charged prosecution that is now down to misdemeanor counts of impeding an immigration agent.

“Congratulations, you all are no longer charged with felonies,” U.S. District Judge April Perry told the four defendants in granting a motion from prosecutors to dismiss the lone conspiracy charge in the indictment.

The decision comes days after defense attorneys accused the U.S. attorney’s office of reneging on a promise to dismiss the charge, deciding instead to wait until after trial — which prosecutors said was the “usual” protocol for the office.

Attorney Christopher Parente, who represents Oak Park Trustee Brian Straw, took it a step further, suggesting the delay in dismissing the charge was part of a “shell game” to avoid having to turn over unredacted grand jury transcripts to the judge.

Surprise, it was a part of a shell game by the prosecutors.  They were trying to cover up their own misconduct before the grand jury.

What misconduct?  Funny you should ask.

The unraveling of the politically charged “Broadview Six” case against Operation Midway Blitz protesters began earlier this week when a federal judge agreed to look at unredacted grand jury transcripts to “see if there is anything suspicious” about portions that had been mysteriously removed by the U.S. attorney’s office.

………

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.

“Although I am not going to prejudge the issue without a hearing, I will say that I was incredibly shocked by the redactions that were made,” Perry told the assembled parties, according to the transcript. “I have read hundreds, if not thousands, of grand jury transcripts involving prosecutors who are the most junior of prosecutors to several U.S. Attorneys who appeared before the grand jury. I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.”

Perry also said there was a “potential” for “sanctions for prosecutorial misconduct and for potential ethical violations, including lack of candor to the court,” the transcript showed.

The stunning developments led U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros to announce in court that he was dismissing all remaining counts in the case, which had been scheduled to go to trial on Tuesday.

These were the misdemeanor charges that were not dismissed 2 weeks ago. 

I'm thinking that a formal bar complaint is in order here.