Former Illinois Home Speaker Michael J. Madigan’s request to stay free whereas interesting his conviction has been denied by the decide who sentenced him earlier this 12 months to 7½ years in jail.
U.S. District Decide John Blakey wrote in a 44-page ruling that Madigan failed to boost a “substantial” query of legislation that may end in a reversal or new trial on all counts for which the previous speaker faces imprisonment in two months.
“The destiny of Madigan’s whole movement” really rides on “routine, and meritless” objections to his wire fraud convictions, the decide wrote, including that the previous speaker “clings to false hope.”
“Frankly, Madigan doesn’t come near assembly this excessive burden, and thus, even when he had been in a position to prevail on all points directed at his different counts of conviction, he would nonetheless need to serve the 90-month concurrent sentences he acquired,” Blakey defined.
Authorized consultants had predicted that Blakey would reject Madigan’s request. Nevertheless, the previous speaker can now flip to the seventh U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals. An legal professional for Madigan couldn’t instantly be reached after Blakey’s ruling Friday.
Madigan has assembled a workforce of appellate attorneys from the Williams & Connolly legislation agency in Washington, D.C. They embody Lisa Blatt, a well known excessive court docket litigator who touts an 81% win fee, in addition to a lawyer who has represented former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Although the decide completely disbursed with Madigan’s earlier arguments that he deserved a brand new trial or acquittal, Madigan’s attorneys pointed to “the appreciable ink spilled over the definition of ‘corruptly,’” a phrase that seems in a statute used to convict him.
Supreme Court docket justices debated the definition of that phrase in April 2024, however they by no means settled on a conclusion.
“At a minimal, the imposition of a 90-month sentence on an 83-year-old defendant ought to await a dedication by the Seventh Circuit as as to whether the theories of bribery underpinning Madigan’s conviction … are according to latest Supreme Court docket precedent,” Madigan attorneys Dan Collins and Tom Breen argued in a latest transient.
Prosecutors have mentioned Madigan’s arguments “all lack advantage” and he ought to report back to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Oct. 13, as ordered.
Beneath the legislation, Madigan wanted to persuade the decide that his attraction raises a considerable query of legislation or reality that might end in reversal or a brand new trial, a sentence of no jail time or a jail sentence he’d serve in much less time wanted to cope with his attraction.
Madigan’s attraction may take months — and even years — to play out.
A jury convicted Madigan in February of a bribery conspiracy, wire fraud and different crimes after a four-month trial that featured greater than 60 witnesses. The decide then handed down Madigan’s prolonged sentence in June, discovering that Madigan lied when he testified at trial.
The jury discovered Madigan responsible for his position in a prolonged plot through which ComEd paid $1.3 million to 5 of his allies over eight years to curry favor with the once-powerful Southwest Aspect Democrat.
The cash was paid by intermediaries, and the recipients hardly did any work for the utility.
Convicted at a separate trial for his or her position within the plot had been longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain, ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime Metropolis Membership President Jay Doherty.
U.S. District Decide Manish Shah gave a pair of two-year jail sentences to McClain and Pramaggiore. He gave 18 months to Hooker and one 12 months to Doherty.
However Madigan was additionally convicted for a scheme to put in then-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis on a authorities board in trade for his assist touchdown enterprise for Madigan’s non-public tax attraction legislation agency.
Solis wore a wire for the FBI after being confronted with proof of his personal crimes. He additionally helped the feds safe a conviction and two-year jail sentence towards former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke.
In trade for his assist, Solis managed to stroll away from the investigation and not using a conviction.
