Mistrial motion denied in former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke corruption trial

U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall on Thursday denied a motion for mistrial in the corruption trial of former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke, explaining she has “a very good jury” and there was “little to suggest there was an intentional act” by prosecutors.

Kendall said jurors “wrote down the instruction to strike the comment” about the “Chicago way of doing business” being “very corrupt” that was made on the witness stand Wednesday by an Amtrak executive. It prompted a mistrial request from Burke’s lawyers.

The judge on Thursday also pointed to the integrity of Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur — a veteran federal prosecutor. Kendall noted that COVID-19 issues earlier this week put prosecutors at a disadvantage. It meant prosecutors had to call the witness to the stand earlier than expected.

Burke’s trial wrapped for the day Wednesday with Kendall ordering each side to file briefs over whether she should declare a mistrial in the high-profile case — a sign she was giving some serious consideration to the question. 

The mistrial bid revolved around testimony from Amtrak executive Ray Lang, who’d sent a Dec. 14, 2016, email informing a colleague that “the owners of the Old Post Office hired Ed Burke today.” He noted that Burke was a friend of Amtrak board member Jeff Moreland and wrote that it was “a very old school Chicago move to hire him.”

MacArthur asked Lang on the witness stand Wednesday what he meant. 

“A developer hiring an alderman to do property tax work … I thought was symbolic of the Chicago way of doing business,” Lang replied. 

And then, MacArthur asked him what he meant by that. 

“I mean it’s very corrupt,” Lang said. 

Burke’s lawyers argued in a brief Thursday morning that Lang’s comment went to “the critical, ultimate issue in the case before the jury.” 

“Lang has irreparably prejudiced the jury by telling them his view that all such relationships are corrupt,” they wrote.

But prosecutors insisted that “a single sentence uttered by a lay witness during a lengthy trial is no grounds for a mistrial.” 

“This is a multiweek trial, with dozens of witnesses, hundreds of documentary exhibits, and scores of recordings,” they wrote.

Amtrak is part of the narrative in the Burke case because it owned the railroad tracks that run underneath Chicago’s massive Old Post Office, which also straddles the Eisenhower Expressway. Burke is accused of trying to strongarm business for his private property tax appeals law firm out of the New York-based developers who set out to renovate the building in 2016.

But jurors heard Wednesday how the developers grew thoroughly frustrated with Amtrak, complaining that it dragged its feet and charged exorbitant fees.

Burke allegedly tried to take advantage, and he was repeatedly recorded telling people he helped make an Amtrak board member’s daughter a judge.

Lang testified that he met with Burke on Dec. 21, 2016. At the time, Lang said that the 14th Ward alderperson had indicated “that he was considering representing the Old Post Office with his law firm.” Then, in a separate meeting with then-Ald. Danny Solis on Dec. 22, 2016, Burke explained the issues the Old Post Office developers were having with Amtrak.

Unbeknownst to Burke, Solis had agreed to wear a wire for the FBI after it confronted him with evidence of his own alleged wrongdoing.

It was in that Dec. 22, 2016, meeting with Solis that Burke said, “Jews are Jews and they’ll deal with Jews to the exclusion of everybody else … unless there’s a reason for them to use a Christian.”

The key Old Post Office developer, Harry Skydell, is Jewish. Burke is Roman Catholic.

Later in that conversation, Burke mentioned to Solis that “we made” Moreland’s daughter a judge.

The next month, Burke complained to Solis that if “we’re not signed up” he wasn’t going to “do any lifting.” His law firm had not yet been hired.

“The cash register has not rung yet,” Burke told Solis.

Read the full motions for and against the mistrial: