|
Judge Harry Leinenweber, who oversaw the 2023 trial of four
former Commonwealth Edison executives and lobbyists, died
Tuesday evening after 39 years on the bench. He was 87.
President Ronald Reagan nominated Leinenweber to the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1985. He
assumed senior status in 2002 and maintained an active caseload
until his death.
The court's executive committee assigned the ComEd case to Judge
Manish Shah for all further proceedings, according to court
records.
On May 2, 2023, a jury convicted former state lawmaker and
lobbyist Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore,
former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former contract lobbyist
Jay Doherty. The case involved a conspiracy to bribe Madigan
with $1.3 million in no-show jobs, contracts and payments to
associates in exchange for support with legislation that would
benefit the utility's bottom line.
All four were initially set to be sentenced in January 2024, but
that didn't happen. Rather, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to
take up the case of James E. Snyder v. U.S., which defense
attorneys said could upend the bribery convictions at the center
of the case. Prosecutors objected. Judge Leinenweber said in
February that he wanted to wait to see what the U.S. Supreme
Court would do in the Snyder case before sentencing.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Snyder case in
June, but had not published a decision in the case as of Friday,
June 14.
McClain and Pramaggiore were convicted of nine counts of
conspiracy, bribery and willfully falsifying books and records.
Hooker and Doherty were convicted of six counts of conspiracy,
bribery and willfully falsifying books and records.
At trial, prosecutors presented secretly recorded videos,
wiretapped phone calls and hundreds of emails to show how the
four former ComEd executives and lobbyists were "the
grandmasters of corruption."
Prosecutors said that the utility paid out $1.3 million in jobs,
contracts and payments to associates of Madigan over eight years
in exchange for favorable treatment on legislation in
Springfield.
Defense attorneys said the four never bribed anyone and argued
the conduct was legal lobbying, including efforts to build
goodwill with elected officials.
Madigan, who resigned after losing the House speakership in
January 2021, has been charged with 23 counts of racketeering,
bribery, and official misconduct alongside McClain in a separate
case that could go to trial in October. Madigan has denied
wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
|
|
