Madigan criticizes ‘press frenzy’ as he seeks to screen jury

(The Center Square) – Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan wants to screen the social media accounts of potential jurors after extensive pretrial publicity for one of the state's most high-profile corruption cases since Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Madigan's defense team traced the publicity issue back to former Gov. Bruce Rauner, a wealthy Republican who fought with Madigan and the state's Democratic legislature during his four years in office.

"Madigan took political punches for decades ... From 2014 through 2018, those political hits changed from 'just politics' to deeply personal and unfair attacks," defense attorneys wrote in Madigan's latest motion. "Former Governor Bruce Rauner made numerous public statements and spent millions of dollars to fund campaign ads stating that Madigan was corrupt and should be prosecuted – with at least $80 million spent primarily to disparage him."

Then, the federal investigation into Ald. Danny Solis leaked starting "the beginning of a continuous, ongoing press frenzy involving Madigan that has often read strikingly similar to the political attack ads," according to Madigan's defense team.

The defense motion characterizes the press coverage of Madigan as negative, slanted and prejudicial. It cited multiple examples of news coverage of Madigan's upcoming trial and other Madigan-related corruption trials – including the trial of his former chief of staff, Tim Mapes; the trial of Chicago Ald. Ed Burke; and trial of four former ComEd executives and lobbyists, which prosecutors centered around a multi-year scheme to bribe Madigan.

Because of all that publicity, Madigan's defense team—which includes Daniel Collins and Thomas Breen—wants some safeguards in place before the trial begins.

"The pretrial publicity in this case will make it impossible for Madigan to receive a fair trial unless there are additional precautions taken during the jury selection process to identify jurors' conscious anti-Madigan views or unconscious anti-Madigan feelings resulting from the barrage of negative publicity over the last decade," defense attorneys wrote. "To ensure potential jurors have not prejudged Madigan's guilt or innocence, the parties should be allowed to review potential jurors' public social media posts, and present a variety of questions on prior exposure to Madigan and this case, as well as extensive follow-up voir dire, as necessary."

The defense suggested reviewing the public-facing social media information of the jury pool.

"Potential jurors who publicly share their negative feelings of Madigan are less likely to be able to put their biases aside and judge Madigan fairly and impartially," according to the defense. "Such individuals need to be identified and questioned about their opinions of Madigan during the individualized questioning. The next step is to ask several detailed questions in the written questionnaire regarding potential jurors' exposure to Madigan and this case. These questions need to be asked in a variety of ways to determine if the potential jurors have any strong feelings or preconceptions resulting from the negative media coverage of Madigan and all of the related criminal cases covered by the news media. If the potential juror has been exposed to this negative information, detailed questioning through voir dire is necessary to evaluate the credibility of each potential juror and assess their ability to evaluate the evidence presented at trial."

The charges stem largely from Madigan's dealings with the state's largest utility, ComEd, along with another business, AT&T Illinois, that had wanted to influence legislation in Springfield.

In 2020, federal prosecutors and Exelon subsidiary ComEd reached a deferred prosecution agreement. As part of the agreement, the utility admitted it paid $1.3 million in jobs and contracts to associates of Madigan over nine years to influence the former House speaker. ComEd agreed to pay a $200 million fine. A former ComEd official, Fidel Marquez, pleaded guilty to bribery charges in September 2020.

Prosecutors also allege that former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis agreed to help steer business to Madigan's personal law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner, which specializes in challenging property tax bills for its clients. In exchange, prosecutors claim Madigan agreed to ask Gov. J.B. Pritzker to appoint Solis to a state board position that would pay $93,926 a year after Solis retired from the Chicago City Council.

Solis, who represented Chicago's 25th ward from 1996 to 2019, began cooperating with federal prosecutors in 2014, according to a 106-page indictment.

Madigan served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021, as speaker from 1983 to 1995 and again from 1997 to 2021. That made him one of the state's most powerful politicians, especially given his role as head of the Democratic party in the state. He faces 23 counts of racketeering, bribery, and official misconduct as part of a federal indictment. Madigan has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.