Crime & Law

Michael Madigan Asks Judge to Remain Free While He Appeals Corruption Convictions

Michael Madigan is scheduled to report to prison to begin serving his seven-plus-year sentence in October, but his attorneys are now asking a judge to allow the former Illinois House speaker to remain free while he challenges his federal corruption convictions.

Madigan’s attorneys have filed a motion asking that he be allowed to stay out of prison while he appeals his 10 convictions in the federal bribery case — an area of criminal law they say is among the most complex and “rapidly evolving.”

“Specifically,” defense attorneys Dan Collins and Tom Breen wrote in their motion, “Madigan intends to argue on appeal that several jury instructions were erroneous, that the evidence was insufficient, and that the admission of certain evidence was an abuse of discretion and unfairly prejudicial.”

The longtime House speaker was convicted on federal bribery and wire fraud charges in February following a four-month trial that marked one of the most significant public corruption cases to come through the Dirksen Federal Building in recent history. Last month Madigan was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison — a sentence he is supposed to begin serving Oct. 13.

Madigan, 83, was accused of orchestrating five separate corruption schemes, but his convictions centered on just two of those plots: his efforts to secure a valuable state board position for disgraced former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis, and his bribery efforts involving Commonwealth Edison.

In the most wide-ranging of those schemes, Madigan and his codefendant and longtime ally Michael McClain were accused of arranging subcontractor jobs for several of the former speaker’s associates with ComEd, which paid them $1.3 million even as they did little or no actual work.

ComEd execs allegedly hired the “ghost” workers in order to win over Madigan’s support on critical energy legislation in Springfield. McClain — who was tried alongside Madigan, but was not convicted in that case — and three other utility officials were previously found guilty of conspiring to bribe Madigan in the 2023 “ComEd Four” trial.

Despite his convictions, Madigan’s defense team noted that the jury failed to convict their client on 13 other counts, including the top count of racketeering conspiracy. They argued the government’s “proof was lacking.”

“With respect to both the ComEd and Solis/State Board counts, there was no linkage between the alleged quids (jobs for Madigan’s associates or promises of business referrals) and the alleged quos (action on legislation of interest to ComEd, or a requested board appointment for Solis),” Collins and Breen wrote. “Indeed, in many cases the alleged quids and quos occurred years apart.”

Madigan’s defense focused their motion on what they believe are issues with the jury instructions, specifically surrounding the definition of the word “corruptly” and a separate instruction about the “stream of benefits” Madigan received.

They argued that Madigan poses no flight risk while he remains out of custody and that his appeal will present “substantial questions of law” that must be resolved.

Madigan represented the 22nd District on Chicago’s Southwest Side for 50 years, spent decades chairing the Illinois Democratic Party and served as Illinois’ House speaker for 36 years before he retired in 2021 amid expanding corruption allegations that swirled around him and his 13th Ward political operation.

At his sentencing in June, he asked to be allowed to spend his “final days” at home with his family.

“I’m truly sorry for putting the people of the state of Illinois through this,” Madigan said last month. “I tried to do my best to serve the people of the state of Illinois. I am not perfect.”

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