Lawyers for former House Speaker Michael Madigan formally rested their case before the jury on Thursday after calling 12 witnesses, most notably Madigan himself.
Prosecutors plan to put on a short rebuttal case before closing the evidence phase of the trial, which began back in October.
In a sign of how disjointed the landmark trial has been at times, Madigan’s attorneys started calling witnesses nearly a month ago — Dec. 19 — but there have been only six days of testimony since.
The jury was told to return Thursday morning so lawyers could argue over outstanding issues, but in what has become routine in the complicated case, those arguments went overtime.
Attorneys sparred for nearly two hours about loose ends including jury instructions and proposed evidence in the prosecution’s rebuttal case. A further delay was incurred after the FBI, at the request of Madigan’s attorneys, sent out for a box of investigative notes at its headquarters on West Roosevelt Road for possible use during cross-examination of an agent.
The judge at one point proposed sending the jury to an early lunch, but that plan was scrapped. Madigan’s co-defendant, Michael McClain, whose presence was waived, arrived in the middle of the discussions, and his lawyer asked for the record to reflect he was in court.
“Yes, the record should reflect he’s barely missed anything at all,” U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey said.
Blakey has told the jury that closing arguments in the case will likely begin on Wednesday and go for three full days.
Deliberations would likely begin in earnest the week of Jan. 27. The jury will have to consider three months’ worth of evidence and sort through more than 100 pages of complex jury instructions before rendering a verdict.
The final in-court witness for the defense was Heather Wier Vaught, Madigan’s onetime top legal counsel, who testified Wednesday that key legislation being pushed by ComEd and AT&T came amid a “political war” with then-Gov. Bruce Rauner and only passed after months of negotiations and compromise.
But Wier Vaught, who worked for the speaker’s office for more than a decade and rose to be the office’s top lawyer, was also cross-examined about her loyalty to Madigan and efforts to circle the wagons after the investigation into the speaker’s operation went public with a series of FBI raids in 2019.
Also Wedensday, the jury learned that if he were called to testify, Gov. JB Pritzker would say he has no recollection of a purported meeting with Madigan shortly after Pritzker’s election in 2018, or any discussion of Daniel Solis, the alderman-turned-FBI mole, getting a lucrative state board seat or his daughter getting other work.
“If called as a witness, Gov. JB Pritzker would testify that he does not recall meeting with Michael Madigan on Dec. 4, 2018, and he does not recall Madigan ever discussing or recommending Daniel Solis or Maya Solis, either orally or in writing, for any position on a state board or commission,” stated a defense stipulation read into the record.
That echoes a statement put out by Pritzker’s camp on the day Madigan was indicted nearly three years ago, saying he’d agreed to an interview with the feds, but “does not recall” Madigan ever asking him to consider Solis “for any position,” and that the administration has no record of the alleged recommendation.
Over the course of their case, Madigan’s team also called several other staffers, including David Ellis, Justin Cox, and Craig Willert, as well as his former law partner, Vincent “Bud’ Getzendanner.
But by far the most pivotal defense witness was Madigan himself, who, in a move that shocked Illinois political circles, as well as most court watchers and experts, took the witness stand last week to testify in his own defense.
Madigan painted a portrait of himself as a hard working man of integrity, and a consensus-builder who encourages input from multiple channels before making a decision. He also told the jury repeatedly and emphatically under oath he is innocent of allegations that he betrayed his public office and traded official action for legal work and lucrative contracts for his associates.
But his testimony also opened the door to evidence that the judge had previously barred prosecutors from raising, including a potentially damaging wiretapped call where Madigan and his longtime confidant, Michael McClain, shared a laugh over how much money some of their associates had made for very little work.
“Some of these guys made out like bandits, Mike,” Madigan told McClain on the call, which was played for the jury during Madigan’s cross-examination earlier this week.
“That’s you laughing, sir, isn’t it?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu asked the former speaker, who acknowledged it was.
Madigan, 82, a Southwest Side Democrat, and 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.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
