ComEd Four trial: Jury gets bribery case surrounding ex-Speaker Mike Madigan
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The trial of the so-called "ComEd Four," accused of bribery to keep former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan happy, is now in the hands of a jury.
Before beginning their deliberations, the judge gave the jury over 200 instructions they must take into account when arriving at their verdicts. The very complex trial will now require them to review the testimony of more than 50 witnesses, as well as hundreds of emails and phone calls played over the last six weeks.
SEE ALSO | Defense rests its case in 'ComEd Four' trial bribery case involving Michael Madigan
The twelve men and women of the jury must now decide whether the government proved "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the so-called "ComEd Four" had "criminal intent" when they engaged in a years-long effort to keep then-Speaker Madigan happy, providing his political associates with jobs and contracts in exchange for his help getting legislation favorable to the utility company through the General Assembly.
"This case makes no sense," said defense attorney Jacqueline Jacobson.
READ MORE | ComEd 4 trial: Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore defends actions in bribery case; Hooker testifies
"This isn't maybe, or I think so, or probably. It is beyond a reasonable doubt. That's the burden," said defense attorney Michael Gillespie in his closing arguments Tuesday morning. "This isn't a group that's on trial. The law dictates you must consider the evidence as it relates to each defendant individually."
The defendants are former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, lobbyist and Madigan confidant Mike McClain, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, and former contract lobbyist and City Club president Jay Hooker.
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While they have been tried together, they each face separate charges related to bribery, bribery and conspiracy, and falsifying ComEd books and records. In the last six weeks, the government has tried to prove the incidents were an eight-and-a-half-year scheme to bribe Madigan, while the defense insisted it was nothing more than legal lobbying with no overt smoking gun to prove their clients' guilt.
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"These defendants were careful. We're not talking about amateurs here," said Assistant US Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu during the government's rebuttal Tuesday. "They were not playing checkers, they were playing chess. They were grand masters of corruption. They knew what they were doing."
