The historic corruption trial of former Chicago Ald. Edward Burke has been delayed at least a week after one of the defense lawyers tested positive for COVID-19 overnight, the judge said Thursday, delaying proceedings which already featured slower than expected jury selection.
Opening statements had been expected to begin as soon as Thursday afternoon in the case against Burke, the former City Council powerhouse accused of racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion. U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall had hoped jury selection would be completed Thursday morning.
[ Timeline: Edward Burke, once Chicago’s longest-serving alderman, faces a federal trial ]
But soon after convening the trial Thursday, Kendall announced that one of the lawyers in the case was sick and two others were not feeling well, forcing her to cancel the proceedings until next Thursday, Nov. 16.
“Sorry for this news, but it is in our time,” Kendall said. “Stay healthy, and make sure you drink your orange juice and get your sleep. Because we have work to do.”
Unlike previous trial days, everyone on Burke’s team was wearing masks, including the former alderman, as were prosecutors at the table across from them. Attorneys for one of Burke’s co-defendants, Charles Cui, appeared by phone.
The delay means the trial, which is expected to last about six weeks, will almost certainly bump right up to the Christmas holiday.
There was a bit of a silver lining, however: Due to Kendall’s obligations at an out-of-town judicial conference, the trial was not going to be held on Tuesday or Wednesday anyway.
A total of 54 potential jurors were questioned from Monday morning through Wednesday evening, with 38 making it through “for cause” strikes to the next round. One more person was removed for cause Thursday morning before Kendall recessed the case.
Questioning is now slated to resume next week, with the goal of getting at least 10 more people through the first phase of selection.
After the judge dismissed the panel of potential jurors Wednesday, prosecutors argued over what can be said during their opening statements, particularly concerning ex-Ald. Daniel Solis, the government mole whose secret recordings of Burke form the backbone of the case.
Even though Burke’s legal team has promised to call Solis as their own witness, Burke attorney Chris Gair told the judge he is not going to tell the jury that in his opening, for reasons so far unexplained.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, want to bar the defense from talking about Solis’ motivations for cooperating, including the details of his deferred prosecution agreement with the government, saying that could only be brought up in closing arguments if such evidence is solicited from Solis himself.
Gair and his co-counsel, Joseph Duffy, said they are aware of their obligations and do not plan to make any promises in opening statements they don’t intend to back up during testimony.
“We don’t deserve to be defense lawyers if we can’t get Danny Solis to say that his motivation for making these tapes was to save his own skin,” Gair said.
The back-and-forth offered a glimpse at some of the fireworks expected in the trial, one of the biggest public corruption cases seen in Chicago in years.
The son of a Democratic ward boss and alderman, Burke, 79, served more than 50 years on the City Council and allegedly ran the Finance Committee like his own personal fiefdom before his office was dramatically raided by the FBI in November 2018.
Burke 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.
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Burke’s longtime 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, a real estate developer from Lake Forest, is charged with one count of federal program bribery, three counts of using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.