In the opening statement to jurors Wednesday, a federal prosecutor ripped into Tim Mapes, ousted chief of staff of former Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, calling him a deliberate liar who misled a grand jury to “protect the boss.”
The Mapes defense team countered that the former insider, long at the center of power in Springfield, simply could not remember the details about key questions prosecutors asked him and that he “did his level best” to give full and honest answers.
Mapes, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of lying before the March 2021 grand jury investigating the far-reaching corruption case that peaked with Madigan’s indictment last year on racketeering charges. Prosecutors allege Mapes lied in response to questions about the relationship between Madigan and longtime confidante Michael McClain.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur contended Mapes “perverted” the grand jury process and “jeopardized” the corruption investigation against Madigan with “false testimony.”
“The defendant lied. Not just once but again and again and again, to prevent the grand jury from finding out” about Madigan’s actions.
Those alleged actions led to Madigan’s indictment on racketeering charges along with longtime confidant McClain, a former lobbyist convicted in this year’s ComEd Four corruption trial.
Katie Hill, Mapes’ attorney, countered the government “has it wrong,” saying Mapes “did not lie.”
Jurors likely would not be able to remember, for example, the color of their prom corsage or who won a specific high school ballgame, Hill contended, just like Mapes could not remember details of what happened in conversations a few years ago.
In the intimidating setting of a federal grand jury, Hill said, Mapes listened and answered “very carefully.”
“This is not the time to speculate. This is not the time to guess,” Hill said.
But MacArthur contended a series of answers Mapes gave to the grand jury clearly showed he was protecting his longtime “boss.” That included, MacArthur said, whether McClain had passed along “any insight” about private meetings with Madigan — even after Madigan ousted Mapes in a 2018 scandal.
Mapes said “that wouldn’t happen,” which MacArthur told jurors was a lie.
And when Mapes was asked if he knew whether McClain performed “any sort of tasks or assignments” for Madigan in 2017 and 2018, Mapes said, “I don’t recall.” MacArthur contended was another lie.
“The defendant, through his answer, falsely stated under oath that he did not remember any–anything,” MacArthur said. “Any, Anything.”
Hill strongly disputed the allegations, saying prosecutors chose to charge Mapes over a few statements cherrypicked from the grand jury session. Only once during his testimony was Mapes provided with a document or recording that could have refreshed his memory, she said.
“He’s a 60-something-year-old man, he’s being given what’s basically a test of memory, he’s scared, the environment is terrifying, and he’s aware the government has all of this on tape,” Hill said.
Hill maintained Mapes was “limited to what he actually knows” and an appearance before a grand jury “is not the time to start making assumptions, not the time to start guessing.”
And while McClain might have told Mapes directly at times about orders he got from Madigan, Mapes knew that McClain was prone to exaggerating, Hill said.
“Someone in Tim’s position would not have considered what McClain said to be the gospel truth about what Madigan actually said or wanted,” Hill said. “Tim knew better than to presume he knew anything about those private conversations.”
Further, Hill maintained Mapes did not always know what Madigan was up to because the then-speaker played his cards “close to his vest.”
But MacArthur countered with Mapes’ own words. She used a comment that Mapes had made previously to underscore how he viewed his role with Madigan: “I always try to protect him, I mean, that’s my goal. It’s like in marriage.”
Despite the decades of Mapes and Madigan working closely together, though, Hill maintained the two men “were not close friends and confidantes.” She sought to buttress her point by saying that, once Madigan made Mapes “walk the plank” when he was ousted in 2018, Madigan “ices him out.”
In 2018, Madigan ousted Mapes within hours of a downstate staffer accusing him of sexual harassment and fostering a “culture of sexism, harassment and bullying.” Mapes disputed the allegations, but Madigan forced him to leave the prominent roles as chief of staff, House clerk and executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois, a trio of power positions all aimed at supporting Madigan: the longest-serving lawmaker to run a legislative chamber in American history.
Three years later, though, Mapes found himself before the grand jury. Yet even with immunity granted to him under the condition that he would tell the truth, prosecutors alleged he lied anyway.
At the defense table Wednesday, Mapes, 68, looked a little grayer and a little balder than in the days that he used to charge through the Illinois House, barking orders at lawmakers and striking fear in staffers.
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Prosecutors’ first witness was former House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who took the stand in part to give jurors a civics lesson about how state government is structured and run.
In addition, Harris testified, Madigan and McClain worked closely together – and Madigan’s position as House speaker gave him immense power in the legislative process.
The political stakes are high in the Mapes case given he was so close to Madigan.
Mapes faces single counts of perjury and attempted obstruction of justice, the latter charge worth a maximum of 20 years in prison.
rlong@chicagotribune.com
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
