As jury selection plods on in Madigan trial, 82-year-old ex-speaker laughs at being called 'young'

CHICAGO — Attorneys in the sweeping corruption case against ex-House speaker Michael Madigan resumed questioning potential jurors Friday morning, a process that has proceeded slower than expected and will now spill into next week.

Eight people have already been chosen to decide Madigan’s fate. Attorneys still must select four more jurors as well as six people to serve as alternates.

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 landmark 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.

Among those questioned so far on Friday morning were a former lacrosse team captain from the Northwest suburbs who plans to become a physician’s assistant and a suburban woman who said she enjoys watching true-crime docuseries.

At one point, Madigan attorney Tom Breen asked Juror 54, a U.S. 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, who is 82, broke into a broad smile at the defense table and gave a little wave.

After a mid-morning break, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey told the attorneys, “Wow this jury’s really complimentary isn’t it? People look like movie stars. Everybody’s young.”

On Thursday, a different juror had told Breen he looks like actor Eric Roberts.

Later on Friday morning, Juror 57, a software developer who lives in Bridgeport, said he spent some of his early years in Chinatown. Prosecutors drilled down on his experience there, since part of the charges involve an alleged scheme by Madigan and McClain to have a state-owned Chinatown parking lot transferred to the city for development. In exchange, Madigan allegedly expected the developers of a hotel project to hire his law firm.

Juror 57 said he didn’t have much involvement or knowledge of politicians representing the Chinatown area, but he liked the neighborhood and felt more development there could be a good thing. Madigan nodded.

And he remembered hearing about Madigan throughout his childhood and teen years, he said.

“For sure I’ve heard his name, but I’ve heard it associated with scandal or corruption or bribery,” he said, later adding that his current opinion of Madigan was neutral.

After he was questioned for 45 full minutes, Madigan’s attorneys successfully argued for Blakey to remove him from consideration.

Another juror questioned Friday, No. 50, grew up in Evergreen Park. She said both her parents work for Jewel, and when they talk politics it’s “not a good conversation” because her father is a Democrat and her mother is not.

She said “a lot of the politicians are blamed for what’s going on” but citizens have a role too.

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.

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.

Madigan, 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.

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