Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s longtime aide will sit through many more witnesses in his obstruction of justice and perjury trial next week (Aug 14-18).
Capitol News Illinois reports Tim Mapes is accused of lying to a grand jury to protect Madigan, his boss of more than 25 years in Springfield. Madigan is facing his own bribery and racketeering trial next year.
So far in the trial, federal prosecutors have called a pair of current and former high-ranking Democratic lawmakers, who testified about how Mapes wielded power under Madigan.
The witnesses say the famously closed-off House speaker never owned a cell phone or used email and would communicate his orders through his inner circle, which included Mapes.
The jury will hear dozens of wiretapped phone calls next, while attorneys for Mapes say they’ll present an expert witness on memory to prove he wasn’t lying to the grand jury – he just couldn’t remember.
