ComEd 4 trial: Defense rests, closing arguments set for Monday

[April 20, 2023]  By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – Defense attorneys in the “ComEd Four” federal corruption trial wrapped up their cases late Wednesday, setting the stage for closing arguments in the six-week long legal drama to commence on Monday.

On trial in the federal courtroom of U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber are one-time ComEd CEO Anne Prammagiore, former lobbyists Mike McClain and John Hooker and Jay Doherty, another longtime lobbyist for the utility giant and one-time head of the City Club of Chicago.

While all four have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to bribe then House Speaker Mike Madigan in exchange for legislation in Springfield thought to be in the utility’s best interest, only Prammagiore and Hooker elected to take the stand as part of their defense.

Madigan and McClain face a separate multi-count racketeering indictment, where the two are slated to go on trial sometime early in 2024.

Late Wednesday, Leinenweber instructed jurors to return at 10 a.m. Monday, at which point they will hear closing arguments from both sides. Between now and then, attorneys are scheduled to gather before Leinenweber for jury instruction.

Former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker; Michael McClain, a long time Madigan confidante; former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore; and Jay Doherty, a lobbyist and consultant who once served as chief of the City Club of Chicago.

Earlier in the day with Hooker still on the stand, defense attorneys touched on what they insist is the lunacy of the prosecution’s case by intimating there was no way Madigan would allow himself to become part of any such scheme because he simply loved who he was too much.

“In all your years of experience, did you ever think for one minute that Mike Madigan would risk his speakership and his power to get a few more people some jobs at ComEd,” attorney Patrick Cotter asked Hooker. Representing McClain, an exasperated Cotter later added “some summer interns?”

With Wednesday marking his second day on the stand, Hooker made it a point of sharing with jurors that he never turned to corruption as a means of influencing Madigan, at one point explaining away a secret recording played by prosecutors where he was directly told by McClain that “we had to hire these guys because Mike Madigan came to us” as just “me and McClain joshing around.”

Later, he insisted that he never spoke with Madigan about any of the subcontracts prosecutors contend were vital to keeping the operation running. Hooker offered his assurances despite statements seemingly to the contrary that were captured in some of the wiretaps the government has played for jurors over the past six weeks.