Federal prosecutors fear tainted jury pool if public sees evidence in Broadview Six conspiracy case
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.
She even asked the feds to inquire about jury selection in the recent trial of Juan Espinoza Martinez. He was acquitted by a jury two weeks ago, after roughly three hours of deliberation, of an alleged murder-for-hire plot aimed at U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino.
“I would anticipate that the issues would be similar in terms of finding the right jurors,” Perry said.
The trial of the Broadview protesters is now on track to be the third tied to Operation Midway Blitz. The defendants include congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, former Cook County Board candidate Catherine “Cat” Sharp, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw, 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin and musician Joselyn Walsh.
Their trial won’t occur until after the March 17 primary, when Abughazaleh is seeking the Democratic nomination for Illinois’ 9th District congressional seat. Sharp suspended her campaign for Cook County Board last month, saying she wanted to focus on her legal defense.
Another defendant whose case is tied to the deportation campaign, Erik Meier, faces trial March 9 on a misdemeanor charge of resisting federal officers.
Thirty-two known defendants have been charged with nonimmigration crimes tied to Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago’s federal court. Fifteen of them have been cleared. No member of the group has been convicted.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg predicted last week it could take three days for prosecutors to lay out their case against the Broadview conspiracy defendants.
Mecklenburg wrote in a recent court filing that the feds are “concerned that unrestricted dissemination [of evidence] could taint the jury pool. Given the current climate, it will be very difficult to pick an unbiased jury.”
In court Thursday, the prosecutor also said that “flooding the public way with all of this material is going to have jurors who form an opinion before they even get here.”
Similar concerns were raised by U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow in the murder-for-hire trial of Espinoza Martinez. She predicted jury selection could be “pretty dicey” given how recently Bovino and his agents had been in Chicago. But attorneys managed to pick a dozen jurors and two alternates, out of a pool of 45 people, in less than a day.
Mecklenburg voiced her concern during a debate over a so-called “protective order.” Such an order is typically routine and designed to protect against the improper public disclosure of evidence in a criminal case.
Perry mostly wound up adopting a proposal from the defendants. She said she planned one amendment, to make clear the defendants are not allowed to disseminate information that could help identify officers or agents.
The six defendants are charged with a conspiracy to impede a federal officer.
An 11-page indictment alleges that, while an agent drove a vehicle toward a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility in Broadview on Sept. 26, the six defendants and others surrounded it. Members of the crowd allegedly banged on the vehicle, pushed against it, scratched it and even etched the word “PIG” onto it.
The crowd allegedly broke a side mirror and a rear windshield wiper and forced the agent “to drive at an extremely slow rate of speed.”
Defense attorneys have said a key issue at trial could be the agent’s “decision and motivation to drive his vehicle into a crowd of more than 50 individuals who were peacefully protesting the documented atrocities occurring inside the Broadview facility."