CHICAGO (CN) — Attorneys delivered their opening arguments Wednesday in the criminal trial of Timothy Mapes, once the executive director of the Illinois Democratic Party and clerk of the Illinois House of Representatives. Most importantly, Mapes also served as chief of staff for ex-Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan for nearly three decades, until Madigan forced him to resign in 2018 amid allegations that he had sexually harassed speaker's office employee Sherri Garrett.
Federal prosecutors have charged Mapes, 68, with two counts of perjury and attempted obstruction of justice, claiming he lied to a grand jury in March 2021 in order to shield Madigan from a federal investigation into the former speaker's own alleged corruption. Mapes has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
In Chicago's Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Wednesday, Mapes listened as attorneys alternately described him as a loyal Madigan underling — "the man who kept the trains running on time," as U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur characterized him in her opening statement — and a committed public servant who simply couldn't remember specific details from his past as the grand jury investigators grilled him.
Reflecting their divergent narratives, MacArthur referred to Mapes only by his last name or as "the defendant," while Mapes' defense attorney Kathleen Hill humanized him by calling him "Tim."
"On March 31, 2021, Mapes decided to protect the boss," MacArthur told the jury.
"There is no direct evidence that Tim lied to the grand jury," Hill countered in her own opening statement.
Mapes' charges stem from seven responses he gave to federal investigators' questions during his 2021 grand jury testimony, in which he claimed not be aware of illegal dealings between Madigan and another close Madigan ally, Michael McClain, between 2017 and 2019.
"[All] these questions are going to be for the 2017 through 2019 timeframe. Do you recall anyone ever describing any work - anyone at all describing any work or assignments [McClain] was performing on [Madigan's] behalf?" Mapes was asked during his grand jury testimony.
"I don't recall that — that I would have been part of any of that dialogue. I don't know why I would be," Mapes responded.
Madigan — ex-chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party as well as the former House Speaker — was once one of the most influential men in Illinois politics. He served in the state House for over 50 years and led it for 36, and federal prosecutors say that while in office, he used his position to benefit himself and others in his circle. Most infamously, prosecutors say, he helped pass laws benefitting Illinois' largest energy utility Commonwealth Edison between 2011 and 2019 in exchange for the company arranging jobs and contracts for his political allies.
The Northern Illinois District Attorney's Office began investigating Madigan in 2018 and indicted him on 23 bribery, fraud and racketeering charges in March 2022. Commonwealth Edison itself, colloquially known as ComEd, admitted to the bribery scheme in July 2020 in exchange for a $200 million fine and a deferred prosecution agreement on a single conversion charge. A federal judge in Chicago dismissed that charge last month, and Madigan, who resigned both from the Illinois House and as state Democratic chairman in February 2021 amid the the feds' investigation, pleaded not guilty to all the charges they threw at him. His trial is set to start next April.
McClain, for his part, is a longtime associate of both Madigan and Mapes, as well as a former Illinois state representative and lobbyist for ComEd. He's also part of the "ComEd Four," a quartet of Madigan allies and former ComEd insiders. Jurors convicted all four this past May on multiple fraud, conspiracy and bribery charges, due to their involvement in ComEd's admitted bribery efforts in the Illinois Legislature.
Besides McClain's involvement with these efforts, prosecutors also claim Mapes was aware of his and Madigan's attempts in 2018 to pass legislation transferring property in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood from state to city ownership, which would in turn pave the way for a private developer to purchase it with the aid of another Madigan ally, former Chicago alderman-turned FBI informant Danny Solis.
In exchange for the friendly legislation, the government says the developer would direct real estate tax work to Madigan's law firm. Per court documents, McClain referred to the Chinatown property issue as "an assignment, as you probably know," in a secretly-wiretapped phone conversation between Mapes and McClain in May 2018.
"At the times that Mapes and McClain were speaking on the phone in 2018, they didn't know there was a wiretap on that phone... [Mapes] didn't know what the government had recorded regarding his communications with McClain," MacArthur said.
Though Mapes' indictment does not mention the Chinatown deal specifically, the government plans to discuss it with the jury to show he was aware that McClain was performing tasks for Madigan between 2017 and 2019 - contradicting his grand jury testimony.
More than contradictions, MacArthur characterized Mapes' seven supposed lapses of memory in 2021 as bold-faced lies. She accused Mapes of "perverting" the grand jury's truth-seeking mission, and obfuscating widespread corruption at the highest levels of Illinois government.
"He knew what had happened, he knew what was said... he decided to lie," MacArthur said.
But Hill offered a different perspective. She said Mapes had demurred only on seven statements out of the more than 500 he gave to the grand jury, calling the extent of his alleged cover for Madigan into question.
"The government has plucked out seven statements out of hundreds," Hill said.
She argued Mapes was an old man who simply couldn't remember specific conversations he had with McClain years before — a few words plucked from decades' worth of conversations between the two — especially in the intimidating atmosphere of a grand jury. She compared Mapes' answers to adults not being allowed to attend their high school reunion unless they could remember obscure details of their high school experience.
"You certainly knew these things then, but dang if you can remember them now," Hill said.
She further told the jury that Mapes was on trial not for any involvement in Madigan or McClain's actions, but for whether or not he was truthful when he said he couldn't recall or wasn't aware of those actions. When testifying before a grand jury under threat of perjury, she argued, it was more truthful for Mapes to admit he couldn't recall specific details than to offer detailed answers which may later prove inaccurate.
"He's a 66-year-old man, he's being given a memory test, he's scared... and he's being repeatedly told, 'if you get any of these questions wrong, we're going to charge you with a crime,'" Hill said.
Hill told the jury that the "essence" of the case is memory, and said that they would hear from a psychologist who could explain how it functions. In the meantime, she asked the jury to "give the same attention to the government's questions as the government gave to Michael McClain's wiretaps."
The opening arguments began after a day and a half of jury selection that began Monday, with the final jury consisting of six men and six women. Mapes' trial, presided over by Donald Trump appointee U.S. District Judge John Kness, is expected to last less than a month. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison.
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