CHICAGO — The corruption trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan inched closer to opening statements Tuesday as lawyers spent another long day questioning potential jurors about their backgrounds and feelings about the landmark case.

A total of 13 people were interviewed, but no final decisions were made on who might serve on the panel because there are still more prospective jurors in their group who did not get a chance to be questioned.

That means that seven panel members — one regular juror and six alternates — still need to be selected before the trial can begin in earnest with opening statements.

Before breaking for the day, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey said that even if jury selection wrapped up before the end of the week, it made more sense to tell the jurors to return “fresh, bright and early on Monday” for opening statements — a week later than originally hoped.

Madigan, 82, the Democratic powerhouse who served for decades as 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.

The trial is expected to last at least 11 weeks.

A pool of more than 150 potential jurors from all over northern Illinois was called into the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse beginning last week, 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 numbers to protect their privacy.

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.

Among those questioned Tuesday was Juror 72, a chemical plant worker who was a public relations staffer for the state Senate back in the 1990s, working under then-state Sen. Emil Jones Jr.

He said he took photographs and worked on communications and went door to door for Democratic campaigns, but did not fraternize with the politicians. He said he met Madigan once in passing, but really only knew him by his reputation as a “dominant leader.”

Asked if he went to any popular “watering holes” during his four years in Springfield, the potential juror said “I was very young and very poor.”

“We didn’t go anywhere there was influential people,” he said with a laugh. “Bottom of the barrel, basically.”

Juror 72 said he does not follow state politics, and said that while he knew Madigan had been charged, he did not know any details about the allegations against him. He said he knew that Jones’ son “went into politics” himself but he has not kept up with their family.

Left unsaid in court was that Jones’ son, current state Sen. Emil Jones III, was also facing corruption charges. In fact, he had a status hearing in his case shortly before Juror 72 was questioned.

Unlike many prospective jurors, Juror 72 said he did not have a problem with long-serving politicians, saying he knew that politicians have a complicated job that could take years to really master.

“I know I’m different in that way, but I believe there is a place for someone who knows how it all works,” he said.

He also said he strongly believes that a politician’s business should be as separate as possible from their political life.

“I really believe they shouldn’t use politics to influence their business or get gains from it,” he said. “If you’re going to be in politics, be a politician. I don’t like the two mixing.”

Also questioned Tuesday morning were an occupational therapist from West Lawn who went to grade school with the son of Cicero Town President Larry Dominick, a woman from Westmont who works in education and said she supported former Gov. Bruce Rauner, and an “IT architect” from Vernon Hills, who said he knows the Madigan name but does not have an opinion of him.

In the afternoon, attorneys spent a long time questioning Juror 87, who works in finance and is originally from the Baltimore area. He counted HBO’s “The Wire” — which is about crime and corruption in Baltimore and features law enforcement wiretaps — as one of his favorite shows.

He said his appreciation for the show would not impede his ability to be fair. However, his view of Illinois politicians as corrupt was formed in part with his connection to Baltimore, since both places are “similar” in that they have a reputation for corrupt politicians, he said.

Another person questioned, Juror 91, a retired insurance claims attorney, said he also has a somewhat negative view of politicians from living in the Chicago area. He said he thought it would be interesting to serve on the jury to learn “what goes on behind the curtain.”

“Politics can be a dirty business,” he said.

Rejected from consideration was Juror 80, a retired school administrator from Mount Prospect who said he had often visited Springfield in connection with the State Board of Education. He described Madigan as having “served Illinois well for many, many, many years” but had heard criticism that Madigan had too much power and was in office too long.

He did not necessarily think that was accurate, but said “I guess you hear it enough and you start to believe it.”

He also said he gets most of his news from Yahoo! and Google News, though he believed about half of it was “fake news.” Attorneys repeatedly attempted to drill down on what he meant by the term, which was popularized by ex-President Donald Trump and is widely associated with his supporters, but the juror said he didn’t know where it came from.

At the end of the day Tuesday, defense attorneys moved to strike him for cause, and prosecutors did not object.

Also stricken for cause was Juror 86, an Elgin woman whose husband spent decades working at AT&T and related companies. Attorneys did not publicly give a reason for agreeing to kick her off the panel, but AT&T figures heavily in the allegations against both Madigan and McClain.

Madigan, dressed in a dark gray suit and light blue tie, sat with his legs crossed and a yellow legal pad on one knee for much of the questioning Tuesday. He did not appear to interact with McClain, whose seat in the courtroom is directly behind the former speaker.

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.

Chosen Friday were three women: one who lives in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood and wanted to be on the panel to “give back to my city,” another who works at donation center, and a third who is a patient coordinator for University of Chicago Medical Center.

____

©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.