A grand jury in Chicago approved an indictment of six Democratic politicians and activists who had protested outside a federal immigration detention center, despite initial skepticism from some grand jurors. According to newly released transcripts, one grand juror called the indictment ‘a crock’ before it was approved.

Grand Jury Proceedings

The grand jury was meeting every Thursday last fall to examine cases proposed by prosecutors. This case was presented to the same grand jury three weeks in a row in October, but not all grand jurors needed to be present each session. After one grand juror asked if there were new facts to add to the case, one of the prosecutors responded, ‘I’m feeling the skepticism already. Are you going to be able to listen with an open mind? Tell me the truth.’ The grand juror replied, ‘I heard this case like last week and I thought it was a crock then and I still think it is,’ according to the newly released transcripts.

The US attorney’s office dropped the charges against the protesters last month shortly after a judge read the previously secret grand jury transcripts. The situation has raised questions about the possible involvement of Justice Department political leadership in the Chicago office’s prosecution efforts of the Democratic activists.

Reaction and Concerns

More than 100 alumni of the office, including several well-known former federal prosecutors, issued a written statement saying they believed the office was suffering from ‘a failure of leadership’ and that ‘once-forbidden political considerations are infecting prosecutorial decisions.’ Defense attorneys in at least two other cases in the Northern District of Illinois’ trial-level court have raised the Broadview Six grand jury debacle as reason for judges to review prosecutors’ work in other criminal cases.

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.