Jury selection in corruption trial of former Ald. Ed Burke delayed by a week
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The last day of jury selection and the start of opening statements in the corruption case against former Ald. Ed Burke have been delayed by one week, after an attorney in the case tested positive for COVID-19.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall announced the completion of jury selection, which she originally expected to wrap up by noon Thursday, would be postponed until next Thursday, because one attorney in the case has tested positive for COVID-19 and two others are sick and probably will test positive.
Before sending potential jurors home on Thursday, Kendall reiterated that she wants to complete jury selection as soon as possible once the trial gets back underway.
"We need to get our jury," she said.
PotentiaI jurors will return to the courthouse at 8:30 a.m. next Thursday, and Kendall said she wants to have a jury picked by lunchtime.
Burke was the longest-serving and once the most powerful member of the City Council. He stepped away from politics last year after 54 years representing his Southwest Side ward.
He stands accused of trading political favors for lucrative business contracts for his law firm.
As CBS 2 Political Reporter Chris Tye reported Wednesday, this has all been a slow start to a trial that was already slated to last six weeks.
But with the trial now taking a one-week break - due to previously planned days off for Veterans Day on Friday, and because Kendall will be out of town two days next week - jury selection is not going to be completed for another week at the earliest. If a jury is seated and sworn in by Thursday afternoon, opening statements would begin.
As of late Wednesday, attorneys and the judge had interviewed 53 prospective jurors in the voir dire process – and had removed 16 for cause. The causes were often the prospective jurors' personal histories.
Another potential juror was dismissed for cause Thursday morning, after prosecutors raised concerns that he had a prior conviction for child pornography. He completed his sentence and his probation was terminated earlier this year. That prospective juror also told the court he has a strange sleeping pattern, due to a middle-of-the-night "gaming habit," as he plays 4 to 8 hours of video games per day.
The math on jury selection will drive the timing. Judge Kendall wants to have 47 prospective jurors who are "available" rather than "released for cause." Coming into court on Wednesday, there were 26 such prospective jurors – and 21 more were needed. Another 11 were added Wednesday, reducing the number still needed to 10.
Both sides can also use their preemptive strikes to get down to 12 jurors and six alternates.
Jurors on Wednesday were quizzed on their history with permits – that is getting city permits for construction projects, businesses, and the like.
Defense attorneys have explained that the trial will revolve in large part around allegations that Burke held up some permitting for some business owners until they hired on his law firm. Thus, prospective jurors were asked if they had any history of problems getting a permit. The reasoning was that if they answered that question affirmatively, the prospective jurors' impartiality may be in doubt.
One prospective juror interviewed Wednesday had numerous crosscurrents with many of the companies and institutions at play in the trial. He had a brother who had a U.S. Postal worker, he proposed to his wife at a Burger King, and he had a son who worked at Binny's Beverage Depot. The U.S. Postal Service, Burger King, and Binny's are all entities that are involved in the allegations against Burke.
The prospective juror said he also met his wife at Burger King and "she kept giving me free Whoppers.... We've been married for 37 years." He did not come back after a break.
An inordinate number of people had connections to the entities involved in the trial, which also include the Field Museum of Natural History.
Meanwhile, one potential juror had a couple of interesting moments where she was exposed to Burke over the years – once in person, and once, as it happens, by way of Channel 2.
This prospective juror said she was a member of the same southwest suburban country club as Burke. She said she saw him a number of times, but they never spoke – and she said these exposures would not cause her to be biased.
The prospective juror also said she was aware of Burke's name back in the 1980s through watching the Channel 2 News – back in the era of the big newsroom set during which Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson were the best-known anchors.
This era at CBS 2 involved extensive coverage, and numerous "Perspective" segments by Jacobson, on the Council Wars – in which Mayor Harold Washington and his 21 allies were pitted against a bloc of 29 aldermen led by Burke and Ald. Ed Vrdoylak (10th), who thwarted many of Washington's plans and initiatives.
The prospective juror specifically said: "I remember watching Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson… discussing the Council Wars…. with Mr. Burke on TV all the time."
Burke's trial, again, is expected to go on six weeks – though that depends on how long jurors deliberate.
