Former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke’s defense team may argue at trial that the onetime powerhouse politician was busy, distracted and not as laser-focused on various schemes as federal prosecutors have long alleged.
Hints of that defense began to emerge during a hearing Friday in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall. The judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys are hustling to prepare for Burke’s long-awaited trial, set to begin in less than a month on Nov. 6.
Friday’s hearing was called to review defense attorneys’ objections to recordings that prosecutors intend to play during Burke’s trial. Though few new details were revealed about the recordings, the courtroom discussion offered some insight into Burke’s possible defense.
For example, in asking Kendall to require prosecutors to expand one clip of a recording for context, Burke attorney Joseph Duffy explained that Burke had assistants who read all of his emails and listened to all of his voicemails while Burke “lives off of a cell phone.”
“When he calls into the office, it’s kind of like rapid fire,” Duffy said.
So while Duffy said prosecutors may allege that Burke was “laser-focused” on the schemes alleged in his indictment, the defense attorney said “that really isn’t true.”
Duffy’s co-counsel, Chris Gair, argued that broadening some of the conversation clips would “show his mental state, his lack of intent and his business and his distraction.”
Gair also represented former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson during his trial last year, which ended with Thompson’s conviction for cheating on his taxes and lying to regulators. Gair painted a similar portrait of Thompson during that trial as distracted and inattentive to detail.
Burke is accused of using his seat on the City Council to steer business to his private law firm, Klafter & Burke, amid schemes that involved the Old Post Office, a Burger King at 41st Street and Pulaski Road, and a Binny’s Beverage Depot on the Northwest Side.
The onetime finance chair and longest-serving City Council member is also accused of threatening to block a fee increase at the Field Museum. He allegedly did so because it didn’t respond when he recommended his goddaughter, the daughter of former Chicago Ald. Terry Gabinski, as an intern.
Gair acknowledged multiple times Friday that Burke “read them the riot act” over that oversight at the Field Museum. But while prosecutors say Burke’s intent was to extort, Gair argued that additional portions of a recorded phone call with his goddaughter’s mother on the topic should be played in court. That’s because jurors could make another inference from Burke’s anger.
“The other inference is that this is a woman who had one young girl with significant issues, that we can discuss in chambers if we wish,” Gair said. “He was real, real upset that she didn’t get considered for this unpaid internship.”
A prosecutor later clarified that the internship was a paid position.
Burke’s lawyers have also been clear about other potential defenses in recent court filings. For example, they’ve written that former Ald. Danny Solis, who secretly recorded Burke for the feds amid the Old Post Office scheme, was “singularly corrupt” and “untruthful.”
Meanwhile, Kendall has ordered Burke’s lawyers to disclose by Monday whether they intend to present an entrapment defense.
Also set to face trial with Burke are political aide Peter Andrews and developer Charles Cui.
