(The Center Square) – The jury has completed its first full day of deliberations at the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain.
Deliberations began Wednesday afternoon in a trial that began with jury selection on Oct. 8 at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.
Jurors saw hundreds of transcripts and heard hours of recordings and testimony as attorneys presented their cases and made arguments.
Chicago attorney Sam Adam Jr. represented Rod Blagojevich during the former governor’s first corruption trial in 2010.
“I’ve always felt circumstantial cases to be very difficult for the defense, to be honest with you, because juries are common people, everyday people, that say, ‘If it looks like smoke and it smells like smoke, there’s probably a fire there somewhere,’ and so those are very difficult to tackle as a defense lawyer,” Adam told The Center Square.
Madigan and McClain are charged with 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct in connection with a scheme that federal prosecutors referred to as “Madigan Enterprise.”
Prosecutors allege that ComEd and AT&T Illinois gave out no-work or little-work jobs and contract work to those loyal to Madigan to get legislation passed that would benefit them in Springfield. Four ComEd executives and lobbyists were convicted in 2023 in a related trial, and ComEd itself agreed to pay $200 million in fines as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors. AT&T Illinois agreed to pay $23 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement in 2022.
Throughout the trial, defense attorneys argued that Madigan and McClain provided job recommendations and exchanged legal favors. McClain’s attorneys often reminded the jury that lobbying is legal.
Adam said giving people jobs is what politicians do. That alone, he said, does not constitute bribery.
“I have to stay in power, and so I took a campaign contribution here. I have to get people to work here, so I gave a job to these people. There is no direct connection between the payment and the job,” Adam said.
Madigan has pleaded not guilty to all 23 corruption-related charges. McClain is charged in six of the 23 counts and has also pleaded not guilty. The judge’s instructions to the jury say each defendant should be considered separately.
Madigan and McClain are also accused of using Madigan’s public office to illegally steer business to his private law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner.
The former speaker took the witness stand in his own defense last month. Adam said Madigan might have hurt himself by testifying and facing cross-examination.
“I tell this to a lot of people all the time. I’ve seen very few witnesses who didn’t look stellar on direct. It’s the cross that gets things to open up,” Adam said.
Jurors sent two notes to Judge John Robert Blakey late Thursday morning. One included a request for more highlighters and sticky notes. The other advised the judge that jurors would having lunch at noon.
“We’ll buy them lunch,” the judge suggested.
Blakey repeated an earlier request to the attorneys and parties to stay within 15 minutes of the courtroom.
Jurors sent another note in the afternoon advising the judge they would start deliberations at 10 a.m. on Friday. They asked for a 3 p.m. end time on Fridays, and Blakey agreed. One final note late in the afternoon advised the judge that jurors were planning to leave shortly before 4:45 p.m.
Madigan, D-Chicago, served in the Illinois House for 50 years and was speaker for all but two years between 1983 and 2021. He chaired the Democratic Party of Illinois for 23 years. Madigan also led the 13th Ward Democratic Organization in Chicago and served as 13th Ward committeeman.
McClain, D-Quincy, worked for years as a lobbyist after serving in the Illinois House from 1973 to 1982.