Madigan defense attorney Daniel Collins protested and acknowledged only that there had been a “light” cross-examination of Fidel Marquez. Judge John Blakey disagreed, telling the lawyers it had been “anything" but light.

Jurors learned that the cooperation of Fidel Marquez led to criminal charges against former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, onetime City Club President Jay Doherty, and ComEd itself.

CHICAGO – Before the sun rose on a cold Wednesday morning in January 2019, Fidel Marquez agreed to a life-altering assignment as a cooperating witness in a criminal case the government was building against his colleagues at electric utility Commonwealth Edison and powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

By day five, defense attorneys' questions for ex-ComEd VP Fidel Marquez dovetailed into Marquez' divorce, a gun purchase form he incorrectly filled out this March, and his dog completing

Patrick Cotter, defense attorney for a longtime Madigan ally, spent more than three hours cross-examining former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, trying to methodically rehabilitate his client.

The former chief lobbyist for electric utility Commonwealth Edison has spent the last week telling a federal jury how he bent over backward to accommodate hiring requests from former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Former state Rep. Michael McClain and former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan enter the federal court building in Chicago Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.