By Jason Meisner
Chicago Tribune
(Chicago Tribune) — Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan may not physically be in court Wednesday, but his name will surely be front and center when opening statements get underway in the trial of a former AT&T Illinois boss accused of bribing the Democratic powerhouse.
Paul La Schiazza, 66, is charged with participating in a scheme to funnel $22,500 in payments to newly retired state Rep. Edward Acevedo, a longtime Madigan associate, in exchange for the speaker’s help passing legislation important to the phone giant that ended mandated landline service and saved the company millions of dollars.
Opening statements are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman’s courtroom, where a jury panel of nine women and six men — three of whom are alternates — was selected in the case in a full day of questioning Tuesday.
Included on the panel are a 68-year-old woman from Skokie whose husband is a producer for WGN-TV, a 49-year-old woman from Antioch who worked as a law firm accountant, and a 26-year-old man from south suburban Crete who works at a machine shop.
Most of those selected said they rarely pay attention to the news and had not heard of the charges against La Schiazza. One man, however, a 62-year-old retired waste management engineer from Naperville, was asked about his news sources and replied, “I read ’em all.”
Several of the prospective jurors who were stricken for cause by the judge said they had strong opinions about politicians and lobbying, subjects at the heart of the case. One woman who was cut, a 24-year-old recent college graduate from the Waukegan area, told the judge her household “has negative feelings about politicians in general — especially maybe some Illinois politicians.”
Before questioning began, the jury was given a lengthy list of names that may come up during the trial, including Michael J. Madigan. No one said in open court that they’d heard of Madigan in particular or had any opinions about him.
La Schiazza, 66, was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in October 2022 with conspiracy, federal program bribery, and using a facility in interstate commerce to promote unlawful activity. The most serious counts carry up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty and has been free on bond while his case is pending.
The trial, which is expected to last up to four weeks, will offer a sneak peek at some of the evidence that will be presented at the racketeering trial of Madigan and his longtime confidant, Michael McClain, which kicks off next month.
La Schiazza, meanwhile, has denied wrongdoing, and in court filings his lawyers have laid out a defense centered on two issues: whether there was any “arrangement” between Madigan and AT&T before the bill was passed, and whether there is proof La Schiazza thought what he was doing was illegal.
To illustrate La Schiazza’s state of mind at the time, the defense has pointed to emails where he allegedly told underlings they had “legal approval” from company lawyers to “engage Eddie (Acevedo) in this way.”
“The fact that Mr. La Schiazza asked his subordinates to coordinate legal approval is directly relevant to his state of mind in hiring Mr. Acevedo,” his attorneys wrote in a recent pretrial filing.
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