After three months, more than five dozen witnesses and an array of thorny legal scuffles, attorneys in the landmark corruption trial of ex-speaker Michael Madigan are slated to begin presenting closing arguments Wednesday.
First, though, they will conduct an abbreviated hearing on the legal instructions jurors should hear — a process that has in the past been particularly contentious, given recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Attorneys were scheduled to have a longer hearing on jury instructions Tuesday afternoon, but it was rescheduled at the last moment, signaling that the legal teams may have found more room for agreement than they anticipated.
After jurors return Wednesday morning, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey will read them their lengthy instructions — they are likely to run more than 100 pages — before prosecutors begin their closing arguments.
In total, the arguments are expected to last through the end of the week. Jurors are scheduled to begin deliberations Monday.
Madigan, 82, a Southwest Side Democrat, and co-defendant Michael McClain, 77, of downstate Quincy, are charged in a 23-count indictment alleging that Madigan’s vaunted state and political operations were run like a criminal enterprise to increase his power and enrich himself and his associates.
In addition to alleging bribery schemes involving ComEd and AT&T Illinois, the indictment accuses Madigan of pressuring developers to hire the speaker’s law firm and trying to win business by secretly supporting legislation to transfer state-owned land in Chinatown to the city so developers could build a high-rise.
The trial represents the apex of a long federal corruption investigation that has already resulted in convictions for several other Madigan-adjacent figures over the past few years.
But Madigan, who for decades was considered the most powerful person in Illinois politics, is inarguably the biggest fish.
The prosecution featured nearly 150 wiretapped phone calls and undercover videos as well as testimony from two now-legendary FBI moles: former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez and, most memorably, ex-Ald. Daniel Solis, who began cooperating with the government after being confronted with evidence of his own salacious misdeeds.
The defense put on a dozen witnesses, including Madigan himself, who regaled the jury with tales from his strict, Southwest Side Irish Catholic upbringing and flatly denied any wrongdoing. Prosecutors, however, were able to confront him on cross-examination about his many statements on the government’s wiretaps, including one where he allegedly laughed that some of his associates had “made out like bandits.”
The landmark trial, which began with jury selection on Oct. 8, has been a fascinating dive into the inner workings of state politics as well as Madigan’s vaunted political machine.
It has also been a slog at times, with multiple interruptions for extended attorney arguments, the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and a day of mourning for President Jimmy Carter.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
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rlong@chicagotribune.com