Prosecutors are expected to rest their case in chief Monday in the corruption trial of former Ald. Edward Burke, potentially setting the stage for the highly anticipated testimony of Burke’s former City Council colleague, FBI mole Daniel Solis.
Some 33 witnesses have testified over 15 days so far in the high-profile trial, including the father-and-son owners of a Southwest Side Burger King who were allegedly pressured to hire Burke’s private law firm to do property tax appeals.
Prosecutors are still presenting evidence in the final episode outlined in the indictment, where Burke allegedly intervened in a permit dispute over a liquor store pole sign after the developer, co-defendant Charles Cui, entered an agreement to hire Burke’s law firm, Klafter & Burke.
[ Ex-Ald. Ed Burke corruption trial: Evidence seen and heard by the jury ]
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker told the judge before the trial recessed last week that they expect to rest their case Monday afternoon.
The highlight of the trial has been the secret recordings made by Solis, who began cooperating with federal investigators in June 2016 after being confronted with evidence of his own corrupt acts.
Over the next two years, Solis captured Burke in intimate meetings and phone conversations as he allegedly plotted to win law business from the New York-based developers of the $600 million Old Post Office project.
Prosecutors decided months ago not to put Solis on the stand, apparently betting that Burke’s statements on the recordings he made would speak for themselves.
Now, Burke’s legal team is close to having to make a monumental decision: Do they call Solis as their own witness, hoping that by dirtying him up, they might limit the damage?
While Burke’s attorneys told U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall last month they planned to call Solis, during the subsequent opening statements they conspicuously avoided telling jurors they would be hearing from him. That left the door open for the defense lawyers to change their minds, and many observers figured they would not take the risk of calling him after all.
But in court Thursday, Burke attorney Chris Gair was adamant that Solis would be their marquee witness, saying he intended to question the former 25th Ward alderman and Zoning Committee chair for “hours” on both the recordings he made and the unprecedented deferred prosecution deal he got from the U.S. attorney’s office in exchange for his efforts.
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Meanwhile, prosecutors over the weekend filed a motion asking Kendall to strictly limit the kinds of questions Burke’s attorneys can ask Solis, and suggesting that defense attorneys should offer a more complete preview of what they expect him to say.
The defense also should not be allowed to ask Solis about the details of his cooperation deal, either, prosecutors wrote. But if they are, prosecutors want to elicit testimony that Solis’ cooperation extended beyond just Burke, to show that he had other “bargaining chips” to play in negotiating his deferred-prosecution agreement.
Burke’s attorneys’ had not responded to the motion as of Sunday night.
Burke, 79, who served 54 years as alderman before leaving the City Council in May, is charged with 14 counts, including racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.
His long-time ward aide, Peter Andrews Jr., 73, is charged with one count of attempted extortion, one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, two counts of using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.
Cui, 52, is facing counts of federal program bribery, using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity and making false statements to the FBI.