The jurors deliberating the historic racketeering conspiracy case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan left Chicago’s federal courthouse about 90 minutes early Tuesday, telling the judge in a note, “We have reached our limit for today.”
“We would like to leave early and start fresh in the morning,” the jurors added.
Members of the panel could be seen making their way to a nearby bank of elevators minutes after U.S. District Judge John Blakey read their note aloud in his courtroom. With that, the ninth full day of deliberations in Madigan’s trial came to an abrupt end.
Madigan’s jury heard from more than 60 witnesses during 11 weeks of testimony. Now, they’ve deliberated for just shy of 64 hours over another 10 days. Whether their reference Tuesday to having “reached our limit” turns out to be the first sign of frustration remains to be seen.
Madigan is accused of leading a criminal enterprise over nearly a decade designed to enhance his political power and reward his allies. Madigan’s longtime friend and associate, Michael McClain, is also on trial for allegedly acting as Madigan’s agent.
The 117-page indictment against the men alleges five schemes. In two, Madigan and McClain are accused of conspiring to have ComEd and AT&T Illinois pay thousands of dollars to Madigan allies so that Madigan would look favorably at the utilities’ legislation.
The other three involve former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis (25th), who wore a wire for the FBI. Those allegations involve Solis’ request for Madigan’s help landing a paid seat on a government board, a parking lot in Chinatown and a West Loop apartment project.
The jury began deliberating Jan. 29. Since then, most correspondence from the jury room has revolved around the jurors’ schedules and requests for office supplies. But the panel has also sent two substantive notes.
In one, they asked about evidence related to efforts by Madigan and McClain to install businessman Juan Ochoa on ComEd’s board of directors. In the other, they asked about instructions for two sets of charges: wire fraud and using an interstate facility to promote unlawful activity.
Madigan faces wire fraud charges in connection with Solis’ bid for a government board seat and the dealings involving the Chinatown parking lot.
The jurors have already deliberated more than twice as long as the separate panel that convicted McClain in 2023 for a lengthy conspiracy to bribe Madigan. That panel, which also convicted former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty, deliberated for 27 hours over five days.
But higher-profile corruption trials from years past generated similar deliberations. The jury that convicted former Gov. George Ryan in 2006 considered the case for 10 days before convicting him on all 18 counts, according to Chicago Sun-Times reports.
That came after tumult on the jury prompted the judge to swap two members of the panel with alternates, giving the group an order to start over.
The jury that found former Gov. Rod Blagojevich guilty of 17 counts in 2011 did so on its 10th day of deliberations. That was 10 months after an earlier jury deliberated allegations against Blagojevich for 14 days, failing to reach a verdict on 23 of 24 counts.
President Donald Trump pardoned Blagojevich Monday, more than a decade after those jurors’ deliberations.
Contributing: Tina Sfondeles, Matthew Hendrickson, Sophie Sherry and David Struett