A man accused of conspiring to torch his father’s grocery became the latest defendant to allege serious grand jury misconduct by the federal prosecutor who led the “Broadview Six” case that collapsed in spectacular fashion last month.
Lawyers for Alla Ishkirat said in a court filing Thursday that grand jury transcripts recently turned over by the U.S. attorney’s office show Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg improperly vouched for the credibility of witnesses and the strength of the government’s evidence and “engaged in improper comments to grand jurors about her personal opinions regarding defendant’s guilt.”
Mecklenburg also appeared to cultivate “personal relationships with grand jurors in a manner that risked influencing and undermining their independent judgment,” Ishkirat’s attorneys, Damon Cheronis and Terrence LeFevour, alleged in the filing.
“While some of the misconduct was nuanced, some more blatant, viewed collectively, it demonstrates a sustained effort to improperly steer, influence, and shape grand jury decision-making rather than present evidence in a neutral and impartial manner allowing for a fair probable cause determination by the grand jury,” the filing stated.
The alleged conduct in Ishkirat’s case was startlingly similar to what occurred Broadview Six grand jury, where, according to transcripts made public last week, Mecklenburg also vouched for the strength of the case, told jurors they “trust” her to only ask for charges against guilty people, and asked jurors who rejected the prosecution’s presentation to leave the proceedings.
Ishkirat’s attorneys asked that the charges against Iskirat be dismissed with prejudice due “serious and pervasive misconduct by the U.S. Attorney’s Office” — the same remedy afforded to the Broadview Six as well as two defendants in an unrelated COVID-19 testing fraud case tied to Loretto Hospital.
“Grand jury secrecy requires prosecutors to act with the utmost integrity, honor, and decorum,” the filing said. “Due to the secrecy of the proceedings, when these standards are breached and misconduct occurs, it is particularly devastating to the criminal justice system.”
If the charges are not dismissed, Ishkirat’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman to hold an evidentiary hearing where the U.S. attorney’s office would have to turn over intra-office communications and possibly have witnesses testify under oath about the alleged wrongdoing.
Ishkirat was indicted in September on charges he conspired with three others to set fire to Super Giant Grocery on Chicago’s West Side on May 31, 2018. Ishkirat has pleaded not guilty.
The filing marked the latest controversy surrounding the collapse of the Broadview Six case, which has enveloped Chicago’s storied U.S. attorney’s office and led to calls for U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros to resign.
In a statement to the Tribune on Thursday, Cheronis said criminal defense attorneys who regularly practice at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse “feel like Chief Brody” from the movie “Jaws.”
“We underestimated the problem and now we’re gonna need a bigger boat,” he said
Last week, prosecutors moved to permanently dismiss all charges against two defendants who were challenging their indictment in a massive, $800 million COVID-19 testing fraud scheme that was secured by Mecklenburg.
The scandal has also led attorneys in other cases handled by Mecklenburg, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. attorney’s office, to seek grand jury transcripts that are typically never turned over to the defense.
On Thursday, lawyers for convicted fraudster David Izsak did just that, arguing in a motion that Mecklenburg’s history creates “a reasonable and substantial risk that similar prosecutorial misconduct occurred” in his case.
Izsak, 51, is serving a five-year sentence for bank fraud in a multimillion-dollar mortgage and loan fraud scheme that included the fraudulent purchase of a 58-foot party yacht known as the “Flying Lady,” a onetime fixture in Chicago’s summer boating scene adorned with a pink stripper pole attached to the afterdeck.
Two others convicted in the same investigation, brothers Yale and Jason Schiff, have also asked for grand jury records to be turned over, court records show.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
