Prosecutors are set to try the remaining “Broadview Six” immigration protesters in a rare federal misdemeanor trial next week, after a lengthy pretrial conference Monday ironed out final details right down to the configuration of defense tables in the courtroom.
The trial is scheduled to begin after Memorial Day and run for two weeks. But defense attorneys are still hopeful it might be avoided after U.S. District Judge April Perry agreed to read unredacted transcripts from inside the grand jury room.
Lawyers for the defendants have all but accused prosecutors of misconduct in the three separate grand jury sessions this fall that led to their clients’ October indictment.
The grand jury indicted the original six defendants on a count of felony conspiracy for their involvement in a late September protest outside a federal immigration facility in Chicago’s near-west suburb of Broadview.
