“Free man!”
That was the first thing Paul Ivery said as he turned away from the judge’s bench to face the crowd of supporters who’d gathered to see his federal charges be formally dismissed.
Federal prosecutors filed a motion Friday, Oct. 10, to dismiss the felony assault charges the government brought against Ivery, a 26-year-old Oak Park man with an intellectual disability who was arrested at a Broadview ICE facility protest on Sept. 27. Prosecutors moved to drop the charges after reviewing records related to Ivery’s disability over the last week.
Federal agents took Ivery into custody and charged him with felony assault of a federal officer after he allegedly threatened a Border Patrol agent and pulled down the officer’s helmet during his arrest, according to federal investigators. He was held in federal custody for four nights.
Ivery, described by those who know him as having a deep appreciation for local law enforcement and military service members, told federal investigators he was at the protest to express “his disappointment that ICE agents were disrespectful towards the Broadview Police Department and veterans,” according to the criminal complaint filed against him.
Judge Gabriel A. Fuentes thanked the prosecution for dropping the case. He’d previously called prosecutor’s treatment of Ivery as “ableist at worst.”
“That’s not true at the moment,” Fuentes said. “I think the government has taken Mr. Ivery’s background into account.”
Fuentes also thanked Ivery’s attorney, Johnathon Brooks, for “the compassion” and diligence he showed in defending the Oak Parker.
Scott Sakiyama, an Oak Park attorney and spokesperson for Ivery’s family, said the dismissal brings an end to Ivery’s nightmare.
“These charges should never have been brought,” Sakiyama said. “Paul’s a great guy. The idea he was assaulting Border Patrol was ridiculous.”
Sakiyama said the overwhelming support Ivery received from the Oak Park community made an impact in the case. As with previous hearings, more than 20 friends and neighbors from Oak Park attended Ivery’s hearing, including Village President Vicki Scaman.
“The community really values Paul and his presence. They wanted to have his back,” Sakiyama said. “Oak Park as a community wants to stand up for people, and Paul was there standing up for people. The federal government came after him, and we rallied for Paul. There was a lot of love and support in that courtroom, and I think the judge recognized that.”
On Oct. 1, Fuentes had ordered that Ivery be granted pretrial release without the stringent house arrest restrictions federal prosecutors had requested, which would’ve forbidden Ivery from interacting with students at his job as a cafeteria worker and hall monitor at Oak Park and River Forest High School and put him under the supervision of a neighbor, among other restrictions. Fuentes said the federal pretrial release office who evaluated Ivery’s case determined he was “among the lowest risks it had ever seen.”
Prosecutors had been planning to push to keep Ivery behind bars, but reportedly shifted course at the last minute after learning about Ivery’s disability.
During the Oct. 1 hearing, Fuentes read two letters of support for Ivery into the record during the morning’s proceedings, one from Scaman and one from a junior student at OPRF.
In their letter, the student said Ivery’s arrest made them “feel very scared for our Oak Park community.”
“He is not a criminal, he is a kind person,” the student wrote. “He is always attentive and hard working.”
Fuentes’s reading of the student’s letter brought Ivery to tears at the front of the courtroom.
Scaman’s letter included personal commendations for Ivery from Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson and OPPD Sgt. Samantha Deuchler.
“Our officers know him as the kid who stops and salutes when he sees them on the street,” Scaman wrote. “Paul contributes to all that makes Oak Park special. H, he’s a beloved member of our community.”
When he left the courtroom Friday morning, Ivery gave a short speech thanking his supporters. In that moment, the free man’s mind was still with other ICE protestors facing federal charges.
“There’s other people in the same situation as me,” he said. “This fight isn’t over.”