Attorneys in the lawsuit charging progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh and five others with two counts each for activities during a protest against federal immigration enforcement agreed to delay setting a trial date at a Thursday morning status hearing at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse.
Abughazaleh is a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District.
In October, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Illinois filed charges against her and five co-defendants, including several other Democratic politicians, for allegedly conspiring to “interrupt, hinder, and impede” the activities of a federal law enforcement officer at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois on Sept. 26. Each of the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges in November.
Each count of conspiracy to impede an officer carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. Each count of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers for a simple assault carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of $100,000.
U.S. District Judge April Perry (Communication ’00, Pritzker ’03) presided over Thursday’s hearing and began by asking for an update on evidence collection.
Terence Campbell (Pritzker ’95), who represents co-defendant and Abughazaleh deputy campaign manager Andre Martin, said the defense teams have received two discovery updates from the government so far.
The government’s lead counsel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg, said the lawsuit is “not a voluminous discovery case” and explained that much of the evidence comes from the public record, including the defendants’ own social media accounts.
Mecklenburg added that on Wednesday, she showed the defense counsel the government vehicle the defendants allegedly damaged. The indictment alleged the defendants, among others, etched the word “PIG” on the car’s body and broke a side mirror and its rear windshield wiper.
Mecklenburg said the government expects to share more evidence in January. Later, Campbell said it was therefore “premature to set a trial date” at the hearing.
Christopher Parente, who represents Oak Park Trustee Brian Straw, expressed concern about delaying the trial because of his client’s reelection campaign but eventually agreed, alongside the other defense attorneys, to an “exclusion of time.”
The defense attorneys generally agreed that greater flexibility under speedy trial laws would allow them more time to review the government’s evidence and prepare their responses.
Campbell said before the trial begins, he is considering filing a selective prosecution claim, which argues that a defendant was unfairly targeted for prosecution. Abughazaleh herself has claimed the lawsuit is politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Parente outlined a potential pre-trial motion to dismiss the lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.
“We did flag additional requests for information that we have made to the government about the investigation and decision to prosecute these specific defendants, including Ms. Abughazaleh,” Josh Herman, Abughazaleh’s attorney, wrote in an email to The Daily following Thursday’s proceeding. “We look forward to the government’s response.”
The U.S. Department of Justice declined to provide additional comment on the hearing. In an email to The Daily, the attorney for defendant and Chicago 45th Ward Democratic Committeeperson Michael Rabbitt also declined to comment. The other defense attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case’s next status hearing is scheduled for Jan. 28.
Email: [email protected]
X: @jdowb2005
Related Stories:
— Poll shows Abughazaleh, Biss tied in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District Democratic primary
