ComEd 4 trial: Defense rests, closing arguments set for Monday
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[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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/20/images/ads/current/burtonview_sda_SFARM_2023.png)
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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/20/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
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![ComEd Trial](../images/042023PIX/6413392927829.image_small.jpg)
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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/20/images/ads/current/debbies_lda_032222.png)
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. |