Jurors in the racketeering trial of ex-Ald. Edward Burke were sent home late Wednesday after deliberating for a second full day without reaching a verdict.
They are expected to resume their discussions Thursday. In total, the jury has so far deliberated for about 18 hours over three days. The panel was silent all through Wednesday, sending no notes or questions to U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall.
Burke, who was a force to be reckoned with during his five-plus decades as an alderman, is accused of abusing his City Hall clout to get business for his private law firm.
On Tuesday, the jury sent three notes. One asked only for additional copies of the indictment. The next asked for clarification about a count charging co-defendant Charles Cui with using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.
Just before 3 p.m. Tuesday, jurors sent out a third note, asking whether Amtrak employees are considered public officers. After a brief discussion, Kendall agreed to tell them that the answer is no.
Amtrak came into play during evidence about the $600 million renovation of the Old Post Office. Since the project sits over train tracks that run to and from Union Station, the developers had to deal with Amtrak extensively and ran into significant bureaucratic hurdles.
Prosecutors allege that Burke worked to smooth the way for the developers in a scheme to get their legal business for his firm.
[ Ex-Ald. Ed Burke corruption trial: Evidence seen and heard by the jury ]
Deliberations are expected to last for days. The charges against Burke and his co-defendants are substantial and complicated; it took Kendall nearly four hours on Monday to read the jury instructions alone.
Jurors must sort through the 19 counts in the case, which include 14 counts against Burke and a combination of other charges involving co-defendant Peter Andrews Jr. and Cui.
At the heart of the case were dozens of wiretapped phone calls and secretly recorded meetings made by Daniel Solis, the former 25th Ward alderman who turned FBI mole after being confronted in 2016 with his own wrongdoing.
With Christmas week looming, Kendall told the panel last week they should not feel rushed in their discussions, particularly after a six-week trial, so if there is no verdict by Friday, they would not come back until after New Year’s.
“I don’t want you to think I’m going to be Scrooge if you want to take a long time,” the judge said. “I’m not going to make you sit Christmas week. I don’t want anybody to be stressed that you can’t be with your families.”
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.
Andrews, 74, 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.
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Cui, 52, is facing counts of federal program bribery, using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity and making false statements to the FBI.
The racketeering charge alleges Burke used his significant City Hall power to try to get business for his private law firm from developers.
The indictment alleges Burke and Andrews conspired to extort the Texas-based owners of a Burger King in his Southwest Side 14th Ward, and in a separate scheme, Cui is accused of hiring Burke’s firm, Klafter & Burke, because he was desperate to win a pole sign permit for a Binny’s Beverage Depot in Portage Park.
Burke is also accused of threatening to block an admission fee increase at the Field Museum in retaliation against officials who failed to give a paid internship to a daughter of one of his longtime City Council allies.