Prosecutor resigns under protest over Broadview Six case

Sheri Mecklenburg, a prosecutor involved in the failed Broadview Six case, says she has retired from the Justice Department under protest, accusing U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros of directing the pursuit of felony charges over her objections and then blaming her when the prosecution collapsed. Her resignation took effect immediately, according to her letter and a court filing Thursday. Mecklenburg’s account is contested. She wrote that she believed the case was better suited to misdemeanor charges and that Boutros personally directed the felony prosecution. A Justice Department spokesperson disputed her claim that she recommended misdemeanors. The supplied accounts do not resolve what instructions Boutros gave or how responsibility for the prosecution’s decisions should be apportioned. The case involved six people accused of conspiring to impede an officer during a protest at an immigration detention facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb. Two grand juries declined to indict after Mecklenburg presented evidence, according to reports. The remaining case was dismissed in May, though the accounts differ on the timing and procedural description of that dismissal.