With a loud bang of his gavel Wednesday morning, a federal magistrate judge agreed to dismiss charges against a Chicago couple found lawfully carrying loaded pistols last month outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview.
He did so after a grand jury on Tuesday returned a “no bill” in the case of Ray Collins and Jocelyne Robledo. In doing so, the grand jurors refused to indict in the high-profile case related to protests over the Trump administration’s so-called “Operation Midway Blitz.”
It’s a highly unusual development at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, but one that’s been watched for closely as the feds’ aggressive deportation campaign fills the court’s docket. Top federal officials have touted cases like Collins’ and Robledo’s while making the case that ICE agents are being threatened and that National Guard troops are needed to help protect them.
Now the dismissal of the charges against Collins and Robledo, as well as a misdemeanor case that had been filed against Luci Mazur, is sure to fuel skepticism about this new wave of prosecutions. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros declined to comment.
Richard Kling, who has worked in Chicago courtrooms for decades and represents Collins, said he’d never before seen a “no bill” in the federal courthouse. He told reporters, “I think the charges came from Washington.”
“Straight from Washington,” Kling said. “From Attorney General [Pam] Bondi, is my own speculation.”
Bondi has come under fire recently over accusations that the Justice Department has been overtly politicized under her leadership.
Kling also brought up the old adage Wednesday about prosecutors and ham sandwiches. While grand juries are meant to be a check on overzealous prosecutors, they’re viewed so cynically that it’s said a prosecutor could convince a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.
However, grand juries are now beginning to resist prosecutions brought by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, most notably in Washington, D.C. Now, in Chicago, Kling quipped that prosecutors apparently “had less evidence than a ham sandwich.”
Collins and Robledo are not completely out of the woods yet. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Havey sought dismissal of the complaint against them only “without prejudice,” meaning prosecutors could still bring new charges against them before the end of the month.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Fuentes ordered the dismissal of the complaint after peppering Havey with questions about Havey’s obligations in the situation — and when a “no bill” had last been returned in the Northern District of Illinois.
Havey told the judge, “I don’t have any experience with this,” and he said a “no bill” has been known to happen “periodically.”
Kling told the judge in court that he was “gratified” that the grand jury “stood up for the rights of people to protest and the First Amendment.” He later told reporters that “[Collins] was in jail for two and a half days. He was scared out of his mind. He’s still scared.”
Criminal charges against the couple were filed Sept. 28, one day after their arrest during a protest outside the ICE facility in Broadview. That protest came only days after a shooter opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas, killing a detainee.
ICE officials wrote on the agency’s X social media account that Collins and Robledo “will be prosecuted and held accountable.”
Neither Collins nor Robledo faced charges specifically related to the 9mm semiautomatic pistols they’d been found carrying outside the Broadview facility. Rather, they were each charged with assaulting and resisting officers.
A criminal complaint alleged that Collins and Robledo “refused to retreat” when agents sought to widen a perimeter around the Broadview facility. When agents began to push people away, Robledo allegedly pushed back.
That apparently prompted a struggle. As agents tussled with Robledo, they allegedly found the pistol she was carrying in a band around her waist. Then, Collins allegedly yelled at agents to get away from her and charged toward them, leading to another struggle and the discovery of his gun, according to the complaint.
Still, authorities acknowledged the couple had “lawful permits” for the weapons. And neither was accused of actually brandishing their gun.
Fuentes initially ordered Collins held in custody. He found Robledo ineligible for a detention hearing, in part because she was not accused of actually injuring an officer like Collins. So she was released.
But during a later hearing, U.S. District Judge Sunil Harjani noted that Collins is an employed homeowner with no history of crime or serious substance abuse. Harjani ordered Collins released on conditions that required him to surrender his firearm owner’s ID card and concealed carry license and stay 500 feet away from the Broadview facility.
Fuentes vacated those conditions Wednesday.
Mazur, of Medinah, was separately charged Sept. 28 with forcibly resisting a federal officer. A complaint alleged that Mazur refused to step back as ordered Sept. 27 when agents tried to move protesters away from the Broadview facility. Authorities claimed that an agent pushed Mazur before Mazur grabbed the agent’s arm, causing Mazur to be shoved again.
Both then ended up on the ground, where Mazur continued to resist arrest until being placed in handcuffs, according to the complaint. Prosecutors did not seek Mazur’s detention.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Snell explained during a Wednesday hearing before Fuentes that prosecutors recently obtained new footage of Mazur’s encounter with agents that “caused the United States to determine to not proceed with this case at this time.”
Later, in the courthouse lobby, Mazur recounted feeling “lots of anxiety” about the prosecution.
“[I’m] just happy that it’s over with,” Mazur said.