Crime & Law
Chicago US Attorney’s Office Reviewing Past Grand Jury Proceedings After Another Case Tied to ‘Broadview Six’ Prosecutor Falls Apart
The Dirksen Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois)
Chicago’s embattled U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said his office is reviewing scores of grand jury cases from across the 20-year career of the prosecutor now facing misconduct allegations from the “Broadview Six” protester case.
A third criminal case connected to Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg has fallen apart after Boutros himself filed an unopposed motion Monday to dismiss charges in a separate arson case.
In that motion, Boutros said his office has undertaken a review of more than 100 grand jury cases Mecklenburg indicted dating back as far as 2007 after he discovered “serious irregularities” in Mecklenburg’s “grand jury presentations.”
That review is necessary, in part, to “to restore the judiciary’s, defense bar’s, and public’s confidence in the grand jury practices and proceedings” held within the Northern District of Illinois, Boutros said.
“The U.S. Attorney and the U.S. Attorney’s Office do not condone those irregularities in the grand jury presentations, which should not have happened under any circumstances,” Boutros wrote in the motion.
The new filing — which dismissed charges against Alla Ishkirat, Tawfik Salman, Larry Moneyham and Lonniel Nelson Jr. — comes amid widespread calls for Boutros’ resignation following bombshell allegations of grand jury misconduct by Mecklenburg in the “Broadview Six” case.
In the Broadview case, unsealed grand jury transcript showed Mecklenburg improperly “vouched” for the merits of the government’s case, held conversations with two grand jurors outside of the proceedings and excused grand jurors who questioned the government’s narrative in the politically charged case.
The conduct was hidden away in redacted transcripts for months until late May, when Boutros personally dismissed that case and apologized after defense attorneys and a federal judge learned what happened in the grand jury.
Beyond the Broadview case, similar misconduct allegations led to the dismissal of more charges in a separate COVID-19 fraud case presented by Mecklenburg to the same grand jury.
In the latest case, Boutros said Mecklenburg again held “ex parte” conversations with grand jurors outside of the official proceedings in July 2025.
During that conversation, she allegedly told grand jurors she “can prove this case,” before also adding “we don’t catch the smart ones,” “most of them aren’t as smart as they think,”
and “the white-collar guys think they are the smartest in the world.”
Mecklenburg is not specifically named in Monday’s motion, and is only identified as an “experienced prosecutor,” though court records indicate she was previously assigned to the arson case.
Boutros said he immediately began moving to drop this case after learning of those “irregularities” on June 10. After defense attorneys filed their own dismissal motion on June 18, Boutros said his office “conducted a careful review” of the grand jury transcripts, minutes and available audio in order to “ascertain the scope of the grand jury irregularities.”
Court records show U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman granted Boutros’ motion Monday afternoon.
The former Broadview defendants are now seeking a special prosecutor to investigate and potentially bring charges against those in Boutros’ office who may have committed criminal contempt. A federal judge has not yet ruled on that request.
