Prosecutors say grand jury in ComEd bribery case not compromised by pandemic
Federal prosecutors said Friday the grand jury hearing evidence in the alleged ComEd bribery scheme involving then-House Speaker Michael Madigan was not affected by the coronavirus pandemic and that concerns aired by defense attorneys about the legitimacy of the panel were based on “mistaken conjecture.”
Lawyers for the four defendants said in a filing last month that they had serious concerns that COVID-19 may have led to a grand jury that was not “representative of the community” as required by law.
The defense asked for information and data from the U.S. District Court clerk on how grand juries have been run during the pandemic, which led to a virtual shutdown of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in the spring and continues to disrupt how juries and grand juries have been convened.
After they were informed of the timing, attorneys for the defendants agreed to modify their request to include only information about grand jurors who may have been excused due to COVID-19 issues as well as whether any alternates had replaced them, according to the prosecutors’ motion.
Prosecutors said they continue to object to that request, arguing it “would be an unwarranted intrusion upon the secrecy of grand jury proceedings.”
U.S. District Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer is expected to rule at a later date.
The grand jury issue is the first challenge filed by the defense since an indictment was handed down Nov. 18 charging Michael McClain, a longtime confidant of Madigan’s, with orchestrating an elaborate bribery scheme with ComEd to funnel money and do-nothing jobs to Madigan loyalists in exchange for the speaker’s help with state legislation.
In addition to McClain, the 50-page indictment also charged former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, 62, lobbyist and former ComEd executive John Hooker, 71, and Jay Doherty, 67, a consultant and former head of the City Club of Chicago.
All four have pleaded not guilty.
Madigan, 78, the longest-serving House speaker in U.S. history, has not been charged. The fallout from the ongoing probe however led to him relinquishing his seat earlier this week when he realized he did not have the votes to retain the speaker’s gavel.
Federal grand juries are the mechanism used by prosecutors to bring an indictment against a defendant. The grand jury — which consists of 23 members of the public who convene over a period of months or even years — operates in secret, issuing subpoenas for records through federal prosecutors and hearing testimony from witnesses before deciding if probable cause exists to believe a crime was committed.
The indictment in the ComEd case alleged that beginning in 2011, the defendants “arranged for various associates” of Madigan — including his political allies and campaign workers — to “obtain jobs, contracts and monetary payments” from ComEd even in instances where they did little or no actual work.
McClain and the other defendants also conspired to have ComEd hire a Madigan-favored law firm and lawyer, previously identified in public testimony as Victor Reyes of Reyes Kurson, and to accept into ComEd’s summer internship program a certain number of students who lived in Madigan’s 13th Ward, according to the charges.
Pramaggiore and McClain also allegedly took steps to have an individual appointed to ComEd’s board of directors at the request of Madigan and McClain, the indictment stated. Tribune has identified the appointee as Juan Ochoa, the former head of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority of Chicago.
The U.S. attorney’s office has previously said that the investigation was ongoing.
