Federal prosecutors on Thursday dropped the charges against the last four members of the Broadview Six, ending the Kat Abughazaleh Broadview Case in a hearing at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros told U.S. District Judge April Perry he was dropping the case against Kat Abughazaleh, Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin and Brian Straw, and Perry said the dismissal was with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.

The decision came after months of scrutiny over the case that stemmed from Operation Midway Blitz and began with a felony conspiracy indictment. Boutros told Perry he was completely unaware of the misconduct until late last month and said no one acted with the intent to mislead the court. He also said the events of Sept. 26, 2025, outside an immigration holding facility in Broadview were unacceptable in a civilized society, and added that it was for the grace of God that a federal agent moved at 2 miles per hour during the incident.

That hearing opened with a sealed morning session and a request from news organizations to make the proceedings public. The Chicago Sun-Times, WBEZ, the Chicago Tribune and the Better Government Association intervened in the case Thursday morning, arguing for access to the dispute over what happened before the grand jury. Perry said the interest in guaranteeing a fair jury to these defendants was more compelling than allowing access to the sealed proceeding.

After the charges were withdrawn, Perry heard allegations that reached to the heart of the grand jury process: a prosecutor allegedly vouched to jurors, spoke with a grand juror outside the jury room and kept some jurors who disagreed with the case from participating further. Defense attorneys said the case had once already been rejected by grand jurors in a no bill. Perry said Boutros was significantly undercutting his mea culpa by standing behind the charges and continuing to vilify the defendants.

Boutros, who was appointed by then-Attorney General Pamela Bondi and later kept on by Chicago federal judges last summer, has now ended a case that had left the four defendants as the last members of the so-called Broadview Six still facing criminal charges. The fallout from Thursday’s hearing is final for them: the case is over, the charges are gone, and the government cannot bring them back.