'A gift to Madigan’s defense': Judge has harsh words for key witness who gave false answer on gun form

A federal judge Friday warned a crucial witness in the investigation that toppled former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan that he’d “handed a gift to Madigan’s defense attorney” last month when he gave a false answer while trying to buy a gun.

That’s because Fidel Marquez, the former ComEd executive who admitted to a nearly decadelong scheme to bribe Madigan but agreed to work with prosecutors, has little to bring to the table but his own credibility, U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland said.

She called it every “first-year law student’s dream” to cross-examine a witness like Marquez. And defense attorneys are sure to now use the incident to help further the argument that Marquez lies to get what he wants.

“You’ve just given a really beautiful piece of ammunition to Madigan’s lawyer,” Rowland told Marquez as he stood before her at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

The judge also reminded Marquez that he would one day wind up before her for sentencing — and that she didn’t like what she read in a recent report from prosecutors.

“I want you to know that I take offenses like these very seriously,” Rowland said.

Marquez defense attorney Christopher Niewoehner insisted his client had simply made a mistake on a form — and that he’d tried to buy the gun to fend off rattlesnakes outside his home near Tucson, Arizona.

FBI agents persuaded Marquez to cooperate in the Madigan investigation back in January 2019. He wore a wire and pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy in 2020. Then, last year, Marquez spent a week on the stand during the trial of four political insiders accused of scheming to bribe Madigan to benefit ComEd.

Convicted were Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty.

Defense attorneys in that trial aggressively attacked Marquez’s credibility, at one point even questioning him about money he’d allegedly tried to hide from his ex-wife in divorce proceedings.

“You’ve lied in the past to benefit yourself,” defense attorney Jacqueline Jacobson, representing Hooker, said to him in front of the jury.

Marquez is expected to return to the witness stand — and likely face another withering cross-examination — during Madigan’s trial, set for Oct. 8. A federal grand jury indicted Madigan on racketeering conspiracy charges in 2022.

Prosecutors disclosed in a status report last month that Marquez had tried to buy a gun on March 8. They said he answered “no” when asked on a form if he was “under indictment or information in any court for a felony.” He also allegedly answered “no” when asked if he had “ever been convicted in any court … of a felony.”

The feds filed charges against Marquez in 2020 using a document known as an “information.”

The transaction didn’t go through. Niewoehner apologized to the judge on Marquez’s behalf Friday and told her “he’s regretful.” He explained Marquez lives by the desert near Tucson, where snakes have increasingly become a problem on his property.

When he saw a gun at a store, Niewoehner said Marquez thought, “Oh, that handgun would be a better way of potentially dealing with the snakes that were right at his front door.”

Niewoehner said Marquez was allowed to keep other guns in his possession when he was originally charged and didn’t expect to have any problems if he tried to purchase another. As for the form, Niewoehner said Marquez “failed to recognize the significance” of the language that asked if he was “under indictment or information,” which was part of a broader question.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu told the judge that prosecutors out West do not intend to pursue criminal charges.