Prosecution calls first witnesses in corruption trial against former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke
CHICAGO (CBS) – After nearly five years and a one-week delay, prosecutors finally started to make their case against former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke this week.
The jury was seated on Thursday, and opening statements continued into Friday. CBS 2 Political Reporter Chris Tye was at the courthouse following all the proceedings.
Burke is facing a 14-count indictment charging him with racketeering, bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, and other charges.
He is being tried alongside two co-defendants. His former longtime political aide, Peter Andrews, 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 federal investigators.
Defense attorneys for Burke wanted to accomplish a few things, including softening up his reputation and thwarting the allegations of bribery and extortion. They said the jury would hear a series of secret recordings in which Burke was angry, but his attorneys argued it's not illegal to be angry.
As for allegations that Burke attempted to stop rate hikes at the Field Museum after his goddaughter was denied an internship there, his attorneys argued that wasn't really the case. They said Burke was trying to keep museum prices low for underprivileged kids. It wasn't politics, they said. It was the alderman trying to be a good steward of the city.
After opening statements, the first witness called by the prosecution was political science professor Constance Mixon at Elmhurst University. She said Burke was "considered the dean of the Chicago City Council" and "very influential within the city."
The second witness was special agent Ryan McDonald, a 20-year veteran of the FBI, who detailed how investigators collected 8,900 recordings, some of which will be played during the trial. They were listening in on Burke's phone calls in real-time at the FBI headquarters on Roosevelt Road.
Opening statements in the trial were delayed by one week after at least one attorney involved in the trial tested positive for COVID-19 last week as jury selection was nearing an end.
Jury selection wrapped up on Thursday after seating a jury of nine women and three men, as well as four alternates, three of them women and one of them a man.