WATCH: Attorney cites positive impact of corruption trials 1 year after Madigan conviction

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – One year after a federal jury convicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan of bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud and use of a facility to promote unlawful activity, a defense attorney who worked on the case says public corruption trials are worth the taxpayer expense.

After a trial lasting more than four months, jurors delivered the guilty verdicts on 10 of 23 total counts Feb. 12, 2025.

Attorney John Mitchell, a former prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Northern District of Illinois, represented Madigan’s codefendant, Michael McClain, who was not convicted in the case.

Mitchell said it is worth the time and taxpayer expense go after public corruption, even though he felt the government’s allegations against McClain were wrong.

“I believe it’s had a positive impact on how government works in Chicago and in Illinois,” Mitchell said.

University of Illinois Chicago political science Professor Evan McKenzie said we all want cleaner government, but the U.S. Supreme Court has made it harder to sustain corruption convictions.

“It could be that under the new standards that the Supreme Court has established, what Madigan did might not fit the criteria. The jury may not have been instructed correctly under the existing law. If that is the case, then it would all be for nothing. It would all go down the drain,” McKenzie told TCS.

McKenzie asked how big a deal Madigan’s acts were when compared with the Supreme Court immunizing the presidency from prosecution.

“Anything Madigan did just pales in comparison to what’s been going on now but can’t be prosecuted going forward in Washington,” McKenzie said.

Mitchell said the trial of Madigan and McClain was like no other experience he ever had.

“It seemed like it was on the front page of the newspaper and on the news every day, and just the sheer length of the trial was new for me,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said U.S. District Court Judge John Robert “Jack” Blakey was well-equipped to handle the case.

“No one knows the RICO laws better than he does. He’s had a long experience with criminal cases, both at the U.S. Attorney’s office, at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office and then also for a lengthy stint on the bench,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said Blakey encouraged rigorous jury selection.

“Generally, a jury is picked in a morning of a trial. In this case, it was picked over the course of two weeks,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell worked with Patrick Cotter and his Willkie law firm colleague, Olivia Varnado, on McClain’s defense team.

Mitchell said jurors kept an open mind.

“I think that was a big part of the really great outcome we got for Mike McClain in that case,” Mitchell said.

McClain was not convicted in the Madigan trial but was convicted of conspiracy, bribery and falsifying records at the related ComEd Four trial in 2023.

On Dec. 29, McClain began serving a two-year prison sentence at a federal medical facility and minimum security camp in Lexington, Kentucky.

Mitchell said McClain has serious health problems.

“It’s like a hospital facility where he’s getting just about round-the-clock kind of treatment and care, so he’s getting good care and hanging in there, I would say,” Mitchell said.

Madigan began serving a 7.5-year prison term in Morgantown, West Virginia on Oct. 13, 2025. The sentence Blakey handed down last June 13 also included 3.5 years of supervised release and an order for Madigan to pay a $2.5 million fine.

According to the Bureau of Prisons website, Madigan’s release date has changed from Feb. 22, 2032 to Jan. 23, 2032.

Both a U.S. District Court judge and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Madigan’s petitions to remain free pending the appeals process.

In a brief submitted to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month, U.S. government attorneys said the jury’s verdicts were based on abundant evidence. As Madigan sought to overturn the verdicts, prosecutors said he “incorrectly” characterized his actions as rough-and-tumble politics, unbecoming or prosaic and said the district court’s judgment should be affirmed.

The appeals court approved Madigan’s request for more time to file a reply brief and said the reply, if any, is due on or before March 6.

Madigan, D-Chicago, served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021 and was speaker for all but two years from 1983 to 2021. He chaired the Democratic Party of Illinois from 1998 to 2021 and also led Chicago’s 13th Ward Democratic Organization.

Illinois House Republicans posted a statement on social media to mark the one-year anniversary of the Madigan verdicts.

“While the conviction was a big win for Illinois, we still have a long way to go to root out the culture of corruption that festered for so long under Madigan’s control,” the GOP statement said.

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