CHICAGO — The local U.S. Attorney’s Office is instituting “sweeping internal reforms” to its handling of grand jury proceedings after a high-profile case against a group of protesters crumbled due to prosecutorial misconduct, the office announced Wednesday.

Andrew Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said the reforms are the “the most substantial and significant internal changes” the office has seen in decades, adding that they will make the grand jury process “more transparent, effective, and impactful while greatly reducing the likelihood of mistakes and errors.”

The reforms took effect Tuesday for all grand jury proceedings in the Northern District of Illinois, according to Boutros’ statement. 

The changes come after the federal government’s case against six people who participated in protests outside the Broadview immigration processing facility last year fell apart when a judge uncovered misconduct in how prosecutors handled the grand jury process. The extraordinary admission has led to legal fallout for Boutros’ office, with other people facing federal charges now calling into question the office’s practices in an effort to get their cases dropped.

The most specific change outlined includes more in-depth education about grand jury presentations as well as “extensive, deep-dive” training from national experts outside the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Boutros said. 

Brian Straw, Kat Abughazaleh, Andre Martin and Michael Rabbitt (from left to right) at Everett McKinley Dirksen Federal Building in the Loop on May 18, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Boutros said these changes make his office “among, if not the leading district in the country grand jury disclosures.”

“These remediations should also be deeply curative and put to rest once and for all the divergent practices that have existed across the Office for decades,” he said. “It also should all but eliminate points of contention between federal prosecutor and defense counsel as it relates to these grand jury issues.”

Boutros’ announcement follows a tumultuous few days for his office. 

Last week, a federal judge learned about prosecutorial “misconduct” during the grand jury proceedings that allowed the government to charge six people with felony conspiracy charges stemming from a protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview last fall. 

In October, prosecutors charged Cat Sharp, Jocelyn Walsh, Brian Straw, Kat Abughazaleh, Andre Martin and Michael Rabbitt with felony conspiracy and misdemeanor counts of impeding federal officers outside the ICE facility. Prosecutors then dropped all charges against Walsh and Sharp before dropping the felony charge against the remaining four and proceeding with the misdemeanor charge. 

But days before trial would’ve started, the remaining charges were dismissed after defendants and their attorneys learned about “errors” prosecutors made during the grand jury proceedings. 

The misconduct included improperly dismissing jurors, one of the prosecutors having an interaction with a juror outside of the grand jury proceedings and vouching — which refers to an attorney making a guarantee in front of a jury to a witness’ reliability or truthfulness, a determination that can only be made by grand jury members.

Defense attorneys and their clients immediately blasted the prosecutors for their misconduct, saying it further increases distrust in government and is an example of the federal government weaponizing the justice system.

The fallout from the case is ongoing. Two people tied to a prominent case against a former Loretto Hospital executive are arguing that charges against them should be dropped in light of the admission of wrongdoing in the protesters’ case. 

They’re alleging a federal prosecutor who has been accused of misconduct in the Broadview protesters’ case also committed misconduct before the same grand jury to secure an indictment against them.