(The Center Square) – Prosecutors want former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s longtime chief of staff to spend up to five years in prison to send a message to Springfield while defense attorneys want him to avoid prison.
Tim Mapes, 68, served for decades under Madigan as the clerk of the Illinois House and as Madigan’s chief of staff. In August, a federal jury found Mapes guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury investigating Madigan and others.
Prosecutors asked District Court Judge John Kness to sentence Mapes to 51 to 63 months in prison. Mapes’ defense attorney asked for time served, supervised release and community service hours.
“A Guidelines sentence in this case will send an important message to those in Springfield and elsewhere within this State who still foolishly cling to Mapes’ view that circling the wagons to ‘protect the boss’ is acceptable – even if it means lying to federal law enforcement and the grand jury,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. “This conduct will not be tolerated. A stiff sentence, one called for by the Guidelines, is necessary to send the message that even the powerful and well-connected must abide by their duty to provide truthful testimony to the grand jury.”