With his federal corruption trial slated to begin in just over three weeks, former Ald. Ed Burke’s defense attorneys gave a glimpse into their legal strategy on Friday as they argued over what portions of the government’s secret recordings should be played in court.
Prosecutors and attorneys for Burke and two co-defendants – Peter Andrews, who worked in Burke’s ward office, and real estate developer Charles Cui – appeared before Judge Virginia Kendall Friday afternoon to settle lingering disputes over the wiretapped calls and secretly recorded meetings that prosecutors intend to play for the jury.
Burke was the longest-serving alderman in Chicago City Council history, who represented the 14th Ward for 54 years before he chose not to run for reelection earlier this year. He also served as the longtime chair of the powerful Finance Committee. In 2019, Burke was indicted on 14 charges including bribery, attempted extortion and racketeering, with prosecutors alleging he used his official position to steer business to his law firm specializing in property tax reductions.
The indictment alleges Burke solicited legal work for his assistance with the redevelopment of Chicago’s Old Main Post Office, as well as with permitting for a Burger King in his ward. Andrews is accused of conspiring in the alleged Burger King extortion attempt. Prosecutors also allege Cui hired Burke’s law firm after the city denied his application for a pole sign permit, and Burke then attempted to assist in that process. All three have pleaded not guilty.
Instrumental to the government’s case against Burke was former 25th Ward Ald. Danny Solis, who was himself the center of a federal investigation when he struck a deal in 2018 known as a deferred prosecution agreement, in which prosecutors agreed to dismiss a bribery charge against him in exchange for his cooperation in their wide-ranging corruption probe. Solis wore a wire during meetings with Burke, as well as with former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, indicted last year on 23 counts including racketeering and bribery.
There are a total of 147 tapes to be entered as evidence in Burke’s trial, which begins Nov. 6. Attorneys for both sides argued Friday over which portions of those tapes should be included or removed. In discussing the first of their objections, Burke’s attorneys argued that a June 2017 call should include him telling his assistant, “… let me take this call, I’ll get back to you in a second.”
When questioned about the relevance of that portion of the recording, one of Burke’s attorneys noted that the alderman had two assistants in two different offices who read all his emails and listened to his voicemails, adding that when he called into his office, it was “like rapid-fire” with his agenda items for the day.
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Burke’s attorneys said they wanted to give jurors the context that he was jumping from call to call in order to show “the volume of calls and subject matters he deals with.” His attorneys said they assumed prosecutors would argue Burke was “laser focused” on the allegations in the case, while they argued that the inclusion of more of the recordings would give the jurors context “to show his mental state, his lack of intent, his busy-ness and his distraction.”
“A good example is Danny Solis,” one of Burke’s attorneys said. “He’ll have an hour-long conversation with Danny Solis and there’s a small snippet the government wants to play and it sounds like he’s laser focused on the Old Post Office, and that’s not the case.”
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Kendall told Burke’s attorneys that the defense can play the segments in question during their cross-examination of witnesses, or in making their own case, at which point they indicated they would withdraw their objections to many of those recordings at issue. Some of the recordings remained in dispute at the conclusion of the hearing Friday, with Kendall expected to rule on those and other outstanding motions in the final pre-trial conference scheduled for Monday morning.
