* Jason Meisner at the Tribune…
A federal jury in the bribery trial of former AT&T Illinois boss Paul La Schiazza, accused of funneling payments to an ally of Michael Madigan to win the speaker’s support for legislation in Springfield, has told the judge overseeing the case they may be deadlocked.
“What happens if we feel we are at a stalemate and feel that it won’t change?” a note sent out by the jury early Thursday said, according to U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman.
Gettleman said he would tell the panel to keep at it.
“But I don’t see keeping them beyond today” before declaring a mistrial, Gettleman told lawyers in court. The judge is leaving town and won’t be back until Tuesday.
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* Jon Seidel…
Prosecutors say La Schiazza bribed Madigan by paying $22,500 to former state Rep. Edward “Eddie” Acevedo in 2017, just as AT&T sought a legislative victory that had eluded it for years. The feds say Madigan wanted to help Acevedo because of the increasing Latino population in Madigan’s district.
“Madigan wanted to help Eddie Acevedo so that Eddie Acevedo could help Madigan,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sushma Raju alleged in her closing argument.
Defense attorneys stressed the lack of evidence proving that AT&T paid Acevedo in exchange for Madigan’s help with the bill.
Jurors seemed to quickly focus on that question earlier in their deliberations. They sent a note to the judge Wednesday morning asking whether the law requires proof of such an exchange.
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The judge overseeing the bribery trial of former AT&T Illinois boss Paul La Schiazza, accused of funneling payments to an ally of Michael Madigan to win the speaker’s support, has declared a mistrial in the case.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman announced his decision Thursday afternoon, a few hours after the jury had communicated to the court that they appeared to be deadlocked.
