After week of sluggish questioning, 11 jurors now seated in former Speaker Madigan’s historic corruption trial

Three more jurors were selected Friday to hear the landmark corruption case against former House Speaker Michael Madigan, but the frustratingly slow pace of jury selection has all but guaranteed that opening statements in the case will not come next week.

Chosen Friday were three women: one who lives in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood and wanted to be on the panel to “give back to my city,” another who works at donation center, and a third who is a patient coordinator for University of Chicago Medical Center.

That brings the total number of jurors seated over the week of questioning to 11 — eight women and three men — leaving them with seven more to select, which will include six alternates.

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey had hoped that opening statements in the blockbuster case would happen Tuesday, but he’s had to adjust that plan, as well as the original 10-week estimate for the length of the trial, as individual questioning of prospective jurors plodded along at a sluggish pace.

Before adjourning for the day Friday, Blakey, who has insisted he would not rush the important process of selecting an unbiased jury, seemed optimistic that a jury could be seated next week and opening statements would come Oct. 21.

“So we got three new jurors,” Blakey said at the end of the session. “We’re pretty much on the same pace that we’ve been.”

Madigan, 82, once the enormously powerful speaker of the Illinois House, faces racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise, scheming with utility giants ComEd and AT&T to put his cronies on contracts requiring little or no work and using his public position to drum up business for his private law firm.

Both Madigan and his co-defendant, Michael McClain, 77, a former ComEd lobbyist and longtime confidant of Madigan’s, have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Although they’ve been dear friends for more than 50 years, Madigan and McClain largely avoided interacting with one another over three long days of jury selection, sitting at different defense tables and rarely even glancing in each others’ direction.

During one moment Friday, all of the attorneys abruptly left the courtroom to have a sidebar in the judge’s chambers, leaving Madigan and McClain alone together. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, McClain got up and walked right past Madigan’s table without acknowledging him. Madigan just kept looking at his notes on a legal pad.

Shortly after court adjourned for the week Friday, however, McClain and Madigan shook hands and exchanged words in the emptying courtroom.

A pool of more than 150 potential jurors from all over northern Illinois was called into the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse this week for the case, and attorneys are questioning each member of the panel individually to weed out potential bias. They are being referred to in court only by their juror number to protect their privacy.

Prospective jurors have been grilled about their news consumption habits, their familiarity with Madigan, and whether they have any opinions about unions, lobbying or the state of Illinois politics.

One of those selected Friday was Juror 69, who lives in Chicago with her young son and works at a Goodwill donation center. She does not follow politics at all, she said; in her spare time, she reads romance novels and watches movies such as “Bring It On” and “Friday.”

“‘Friday,’ like (with actor) Ice Cube?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu asked her. “That’s a classic.”

Another person picked, Juror 71, grew up in Evanston but has mostly lived on the South Side. She is working toward a bachelor’s degree in health care administration, and currently works as a patient coordinator at the U. of C. Medical Center. She described herself as an “introvert” who enjoys staying home with her cat, Cosmo.

Also selected was Juror 50, who grew up in Evergreen Park and now lives in Chicago’s 19th Ward. Both of her parents work for Jewel, she said, and when they talk politics, “it’s not a good conversation” because one is a Democrat and the other is not.

Like many of those who have been questioned so far, Juror 50 said she wanted to be picked for the jury.

“I feel like I have a very unbiased opinion on both sides,” she said.

The first three jurors were chosen Wednesday, including a former kindergarten teacher, an Amazon warehouse worker and a Southwest Side insurance underwriter.

Five more were selected Thursday, including a suburban nurse and a Wrigleyville woman who said she recently helped her friend who plans professional events for Pritzker put on an event for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago

Out of 14 people questioned Friday, 11 were eliminated either for cause, or by peremptory strike by one of the parties.

McClain’s attorneys used one of their strikes for Juror 53, a former lacrosse team captain from the northwest suburbs who said she plans to become a physician’s assistant. They also chose to eliminate an Air Force veteran from East Garfield Park who works in biomedical technology and a woman from suburban Montgomery who said she was not a fan of politicians who stayed too long in office.

Madigan’s attorneys, meanwhile, decided to use peremptory strikes on two prospective jurors: A north suburban woman who described herself as a “family advocate” helping relatives in need, and a Roscoe Village man who works as a self-employed consultant and said he was wary of the “opaqueness” of lobbying and its affects on democracy.

Prosecutors used a peremptory strike on Juror 62, a woman who for a time worked at Ameritech. She sometimes worked alongside their government relations group, she said.

Former AT&T boss Paul LaSchiazza, who is accused of bribing Madigan, previously headed up Ameritech’s Wisconsin division.

Other jurors were stricken “for cause,” including Juror 66, a woman who lives downtown and is celebrating her 26th birthday Saturday. Her father worked for Nokia and AT&T was his biggest client, but she said she doesn’t know details and could be fair.

But under questioning by Bhachu, it was learned that Juror 66 grew up in the west suburbs and knows the Vrdolyak family.

“Do you know someone named Ed Vrdolyak?” asked Bhachu, who prosecuted the former Chicago alderman several years ago in an unrelated investigation. She said she did not.

Though tedious, the jury selection process has also been tinged with comedic moments. At one point, Madigan attorney Tom Breen asked Juror 54, the Air Force veteran who lives in East Garfield Park, if he’d be inclined to think ill of Madigan because of his age and the many decades he spent in office.

“No, he looks young,” the juror said.

“He looks young?” Breen asked.

Madigan broke into a broad smile at the defense table and gave a little wave.

The compliment came a day after a different juror had told Breen he looks like actor Eric Roberts.

After a mid-morning break, Blakey told the attorneys, “Wow this jury’s really complimentary isn’t it?

“People look like movie stars. Everybody’s young,” he said.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com