Ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan is set to return to the stand Wednesday morning, continuing testimony that will surely be some of the most crucial and closely examined of the bombshell public corruption trial.
The decision to testify can be extremely risky, and few defendants, let alone such high-profile ones, have opted to take the stand.
But Madigan, who for decades was the state’s most powerful politician, seemed calm and confident from the moment he began talking to jurors Tuesday, repeatedly denying he ever exchanged any official actions for his own private gain.
The testimony was at times intimate, with Madigan recalling his strict Southwest Side upbringing and his courtship with his wife, but most of it consisted of Madigan denying prosecutors’ accusations that he used his political and government operations for his own benefit. Madigan was merely eager to help allies and constituents when they needed job referrals, he testified, and had no understanding or arrangement to look favorably on legislation for companies that hired his referrals.
Madigan’s attorneys said Tuesday that the ex-speaker’s direct examination could wrap up by late Wednesday morning; it will likely be followed by questioning from co-defendant Michael McClain’s attorney.
Then Madigan will sit through what is sure to be a thorough grilling from prosecutors on cross-examination, which will stretch Madigan’s testimony into next week.
The trial, which began Oct. 8 and was originally slated to end before Christmas, is inching toward a conclusion, with Madigan’s testimony surely adding to estimates of when it might end.
U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey on Tuesday told jurors they can expect to be deliberating by the week of Jan. 27, though even that seems increasingly unlikely.
Madigan, 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 amass and increase his power and enrich himself and his associates.
In addition to bribery schemes involving ComEd and AT&T Illinois, the indictment alleges Madigan pressured developers to hire the speaker’s law firm and tried to win business by secretly supporting legislation to transfer state-owned land in Chinatown to the city so developers could build a high-rise.
Both Madigan and McClain have denied wrongdoing.
Madigan attorney Dan Collins’ questioning of his own client on Tuesday quickly turned to the centerpiece allegations involving ComEd. During the prosecution’s case, jurors saw floods of emails, undercover videos and wiretapped phone calls in which McClain and ComEd executives discuss hiring Madigan associates, including precinct captains Edward Moody and Ray Nice, former 13th Ward Ald. Frank Olivo, former 23rd Ward Ald. Michael Zalewski, and ex-state Rep. Edward Acevedo.
Former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez testified earlier in the trial that the hiring was done so that Madigan would look favorably upon ComEd’s legislation.
But Madigan testified there had been no such deal. He said he merely agreed to help friends find work and passed their information along to McClain, and expressed anger that some of them, including Olivo and Nice, had apparently not lifted a finger.
Acevedo allegedly got a similar no-work deal from AT&T as part of the telecom giant’s scheme to win Madigan’s support. But on Tuesday, Madigan said he didn’t even know Acevedo was being paid by AT&T until this case was brought.
