The feds suspect lawyers for Michael Madigan’s longtime chief of staff are playing games with their witness list, using it to bar a key prosecutor from the courtroom as the Madigan aide faces trial for perjury.
Tim Mapes is accused of lying to a grand jury and attempting to block the feds’ aggressive pursuit of Madigan, Illinois’ once-powerful former House speaker. Mapes served as Madigan’s chief of staff for two decades. Mapes’ trial is set to enter its second week Monday.
Over the weekend, lawyers in the case revisited a dispute that surfaced before the trial began. Mapes’ lawyers have named Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu as a witness they might call when it is their turn to present evidence.
Bhachu is the chief of the public corruption section of Chicago’s U.S. attorney’s office and a supervisor of the case against Mapes. He has also played a central role in the Madigan investigation. He gave the final argument last April in the trial of four former political power players who conspired to bribe Madigan, calling them “grand masters of corruption.”
Bhachu is also one of two prosecutors who questioned Mapes when he appeared before the grand jury in March 2021. The other was Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz, who is now prosecuting Mapes at trial along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur.
Because Bhachu is still considered a potential defense witness, he is barred from attending Mapes’ trial or discussing the testimony that has been offered so far.
The debate over Bhachu’s presence could be among those first addressed when lawyers return to the courtroom Monday. Testimony is also expected to continue Monday from retired FBI agent Brendan O’Leary.
In a filing over the weekend, Schwartz argued that Mapes’ lawyers have “not articulated any possible need for AUSA Bhachu’s testimony or even what evidence AUSA Bhachu might plausibly offer that is relevant.”
“Mapes’ failure to describe any substance that AUSA Bhachu might offer strongly suggests that Mapes listed AUSA Bhachu as a witness in an effort to distract the government and hinder its trial preparation by preventing the participation of a member of the prosecution team,” Schwartz wrote. “Mapes should not be permitted to do this.”
She also wrote that the successful use of tactic could lead other defendants to do the same.
“A defendant in the future will be encouraged to add a member of the prosecution team to the witness list and thereby remove that prosecutor from the courtroom and from any discussion of the case,” Schwartz wrote.
Mapes lawyer Andrew Porter insisted in his own filing that Bhachu “is a relevant witness in this case — and his perspective is unique and singular.”
“It was his questions that prompted the grand jury to return an indictment against Mr. Mapes,” Porter wrote.
Mapes testified for hours before the grand jury, fielding more than 650 questions from Bhachu and Schwartz. He was later indicted over his answers to seven queries, in which he claimed he either didn’t know about, or couldn’t remember, work done for Madigan by another Springfield insider, Michael McClain.
McClain was among the four convicted at trial earlier this year for conspiring to bribe Madigan. He also faces trial with Madigan in April in a separate case, in which both men are charged with a racketeering conspiracy.
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