Federal prosecutors to drop conspiracy charge against remaining 'Broadview Six' ICE protesters

Federal prosecutors in Chicago say they will dismiss the controversial conspiracy charge against the remaining four members of the so-called "Broadview Six," with plans to revise the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan shared the news with U.S. District Judge April Perry during a status hearing in the case Wednesday. Hogan said prosecutors plan to file a new charging document, focused on the remaining misdemeanor counts against the defendants who demonstrated last fall against Operation Midway Blitz.

The revelation came during a hearing scheduled by Perry late last week. At the time, she told prosecutors to bring with them unredacted copies of transcripts showing how prosecutors had explained the law in the case to grand jurors.

By dropping the conspiracy count, the feds avoided having to share those transcripts with the judge.

Charged in the case are former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw, 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson Michael Rabbitt and Andre Martin, a former member of Abughazaleh’s campaign staff. All four are involved in local Democratic politics.

The four are set to go to trial May 26, though Wednesday's news could drastically change the course of the case.

Straw defense attorney Chris Parente told the judge he and his colleagues were surprised by the news. The judge also seemed to be taken off guard. She went on to deny a defense motion to dismiss the conspiracy charge, even after the feds promised to drop it themselves.

The motion she denied sought dismissal of the charge based on the First Amendment, which protects the freedom of religion, of speech, of the press and to assemble. Perry said the motion involved contested facts, and she was unable to weigh them at this stage in the case.

Speaking with his colleagues to reporters after court, Parente said the case "has been a failure since the beginning."

"This case never should have been brought," he said. "It was brought for the wrong reasons. They never would have been able to prove it at trial."

The original indictment also charged former Cook County Board candidate Catherine "Cat" Sharp and musician Joselyn Walsh, but prosecutors dismissed the charges against them in March.

The case revolves around events on the morning of Sept. 26 outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview. The four defendants were accused of joining a group that surrounded an ICE agent’s vehicle and pushed, scratched and otherwise damaged it.

The six defendants were among 32 charged with nonimmigration crimes as a result of the Operation Midway Blitz deportation campaign that rocked Chicago last fall. Twenty of those defendants, including Sharp and Walsh, already have been cleared. Four others are on track to have their charges dismissed. Two people have pleaded guilty.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros has denied that politics played any role in his office's charging decisions.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.