The jury began their first full day of deliberations on Thursday - 14-and-a-half weeks after being seated in former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's federal bribery and racketeering trial.

The investigation that led to Michael Madigan’s indictment changed the course of Chicago history. It also prompted a historic trial at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse that began in October and gave jurors a front-row seat to raw Illinois politics as it was practiced in the previous decade.

Co-defendant Mike McClain's defense attorney said this trial is about lobbying and politics during closing arguments Tuesday. McClain is charged in only six of the 23 counts. Patrick Cotter highlighted that there is no key evidence that supports the government's theory that there was bribery and conspiracy.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan collected a pension worth $158,000 in 2024 while facing a federal corruption trial in Chicago. Depending on the verdict, taxpayers could be on the hook for another $1 million to cover his remaining benefits.

After more than three months, the fate of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is now in the hands of a jury.

Defense attorney Patrick Cotter made the comment in the midst of his nearly five-hour closing argument Tuesday in the corruption trial of Michael Madigan and Michael McClain. Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Wednesday.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s fate is officially in the hands of a federal jury after week-long closing arguments in his federal corruption trial wrapped Wednesday afternoon.

Nearly four months after they were first called to Chicago’s federal courthouse, jurors have begun deliberating in the most consequential Illinois public corruption case in years: the racketeering case of former House Speaker Michael Madigan and his longtime confidante,

Jurors started deliberating at the public corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in Chicago. Judge John Robert Blakey handed the case to the jury shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.

As the Madigan trial concludes, the prosecution calls him a 'grand master of corruption,' urging a firm jury verdict.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is accused of leading a criminal enterprise over nearly a decade, designed to enhance his political power and financial well-being. Michael McClain of Quincy,