Inset top left: This Oct. 4, 2007 file photo shows Tim Mapes, chief of staff to Illinois House Speaker Madigan, at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File). Background: The Illinois State Capitol is seen during sunset in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman). Right: AP file photo Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File).
Tim Mapes was the chief of staff to one of the more powerful politicians in Illinois , but after lying to a federal grand jury probing sprawling public corruption — even after he was granted immunity — a federal judge sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison this week.
U.S. District Judge John Knees expressed his dismay and disbelief to Mapes, 69, as he sentenced him at a federal courthouse in Chicago following his conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice charges by a jury last August. Prosecutors had granted him immunity just before he testified to a grand jury exploring bribery and racketeering schemes involving his boss, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.