Prosecutors Case in Madigan Trial Concludes Today

BY HANNAH MEISEL CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case today in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Capitol News Illinois reports the trial is on its ninth week of testimony and the jury has heard from 50 witnesses. 

Attorneys for Madigan’s co-defendant, longtime Statehouse lobbyist Mike McClain, are set to call witnesses in their defense case beginning today.

The feds rounded out their case with testimony from former Democratic state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, who was a beneficiary of alleged no-work contracts from electric utility Commonwealth Edison and A-T-and-T Illinois.

Acevedo was ordered to testify despite his attorney’s protests related to his dementia diagnosis. After he insisted he’d worked for the nearly $143,000 he received from ComEd and A-T-and-T in 2017 and 2018, prosecutors pointed out he’d already admitted to the FBI and a grand jury that he hadn’t worked for the money.