Tim Mapes was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison, though U.S. District Judge John Kness told Mapes he had “zero hesitation in agreeing, wholeheartedly, that you are a good man,” after reading dozens of letters written to the court on Mapes’ behalf.
Tim Mapes
U.S. District Judge John Kness will hand down the sentence during a hearing in a Chicago courtroom Monday — more than five months after Mapes was convicted of making false declarations and attempted obstruction of justice.
In a sentencing memo filed Monday, the government asked a federal judge to sentence Mapes to between 51 and 63 months in prison following his conviction last August on charges of making false declarations and attempted obstruction of justice.
The defense teams for Michael Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain are seeking to strike their upcoming trial date and delay all proceedings until the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling in a case that could rewrite the federal bribery statute.
Madigan, 81, once so dominant that he was known as the “velvet hammer,” was at the heart of the allegations that led to 32 guilty verdicts in those trials. He now faces an uphill battle to avoid guilty convictions to match his former chief of staff Tim Mapes and longtime political confidant Mike McClain.
The verdicts came following a nearly three week trial and five hours of jury deliberations at the Dirksen Federal Building downtown.
“Our system of justice depends on the integrity of this process,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz told jurors Wednesday. “What (Mapes) didn’t do, ladies and gentlemen, was tell the truth.”
The prosecution was expected to formally rest Friday, the trial’s ninth day at the Dirksen Federal Building downtown, but due to technical delays and ongoing testimony, that will be pushed back to the start of next week.
The FBI-recorded calls played in court Thursday related to former state Rep. Lou Lang — who resigned his position in early 2019 amid sexual harassment allegations.
The email was introduced as evidence in the trial of longtime Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes, who was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice after allegedly lying to a grand jury investigating Madigan and his inner circle.
“When the defendant answered those questions, the defendant lied,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said, “not just once, but again and again and again to prevent the grand jury from finding out what Madigan had done and what Madigan had done through him.”
Tim Mapes, 68, was indicted more than two years ago on a pair of charges stemming from his alleged false testimony before a 2021 grand jury about Madigan’s relationship with longtime confidant Michael McClain.
Tim Mapes, a longtime confidant to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, was federally indicted Wednesday on charges he obstructed justice and lied to a grand jury. Our Spotlight Politics team weighs in on that story and more in this week’s roundtable.
A sexual harassment report puts new scrutiny on Springfield. Bombastic former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh mulls taking on Trump. A teachers union trip to Venezuela causes uproar. And the Cubs close an otherwise strong week with a blowout loss.
More fallout from a report detailing a culture of harassment and abuse in the state capitol on Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan’s watch. But is the speaker getting a pass?
A long-awaited report on sexual harassment in the Illinois House outlines a culture of fear, intimidation and bullying under House Speaker Michael Madigan’s former chief of staff Tim Mapes.
