Hours after the mayor announced the list of applicants vying to replace convicted Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, his lawyers filed a motion for a new trial Tuesday arguing in part that prosecutors made “highly improper and prejudicial remarks” in closing arguments and misled the jury by trying to tie his elected office to the charges.
The 27-page motion comes a month after a federal jury convicted Thompson of two counts of lying to federal regulators about loans he’d received from a failed Bridgeport bank and five counts of filing false tax returns that illegally claimed mortgage interest deductions that he never paid.
Thompson resigned as alderman of the 11th Ward the day after the Feb. 14 verdict, as required by state law. U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama set a sentencing hearing for July 6.
In their motion Tuesday, Thompson’s attorneys asked Valderrama to overturn the jury’s verdict and acquit him instead on all charges, saying the government had failed to meet its burden of proof.
Such motions are routine and rarely granted.
The motion also asked in the alternative that the judge grant Thompson a new trial, saying that “both the government’s closing argument and rebuttal argument were highly improper and prejudicial.”
Attorney Chris Gair said prosecutors incorrectly portrayed Thompson’s failure to pay taxes as some kind of premeditated scheme, when in fact, “there was absolutely no evidence supporting these claims and the government knew it.”
Gair also said that Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols made several over-the-top statements in rebuttal that sought “to tie Mr. Thompson’s position as alderman” to the charges and use it as a basis “to convict him of wholly unrelated crimes.”
In one particular passage pointed out by the defense, Netols told jurors that Thompson was blaming everyone for his mistakes, including officials at the now-shuttered Washington Federal Bank for Savings, the government and even the voters who elected him.
“And then, of course, I guess the voters are probably at fault, too, because by electing him to his public offices...,” Netols said before Gair rose to his feet and loudly objected.
After the judge sustained the objection, Netols simply told the jury, “He’s overscheduled for all of these reasons. It’s all — it’s everyone else’s fault.”
Gair said in his argument that Netols’ comments were not even “remotely proper,” and that the judge sustaining the defense objection “is not enough.”
The motion fails to mention, however, that Gair began his own closing argument by emphasizing a certain political surname and saying prosecutors were bent on finally nailing a Daley.
“It shows you just how desperate the government is to convict Patrick Daley Thompson,” Gair said, raising his voice an octave as he said the Daley name. “This case is full to the brim and overflowing with reasonable doubt.”
Prosecutors have two weeks to respond.
Thompson, 52, the grandson and nephew of Chicago’s two longest-serving mayors, was indicted in 2021 on charges of falsely claiming mortgage interest deductions on his tax returns and repeatedly lying about the lines of credit he received from Washington Federal before it collapsed in December 2017.
The charges were an offshoot of a much larger investigation into the bank’s failure, including a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme allegedly orchestrated by the bank’s president, John Gembara, who was found hanged in the home of a customer days before federal regulators shut it down. A total of 14 others have been charged.
The jury’s swift verdict against Thompson marked the first time a member of the Daley family has ever been convicted of a federal crime. Thompson was also the 37th current or former Chicago alderman to be found guilty of a federal crime since the early 1970s.
Each count of lying to banking regulators carries up to 30 years in federal prison, while each count of filing false tax returns has a maximum of three years behind bars. A sentence of probation will also likely be in play for Thompson, who has no prior criminal record.
Meanwhile, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has until April 15 to appoint someone to fill the post for the rest of Thompson’s term.
On Tuesday, her office released names and resumes of 27 applicants to fill the seat. A committee is reviewing the applications and will provide a final slate of candidates to the mayor for selection.
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