Tim Mapes, the former chief of staff to longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for lying to a grand jury to protect Madigan.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge John Kness handed Mapes the sentence after a federal jury found him guilty in August 2023 of one count of perjury and one count of attempted obstruction of justice.
“This is a very sad case to me because I don’t understand why you did what you did,” Kness said, per the Chicago Tribune. “You were immunized in the grand jury, and all you had to do was go in there and tell the truth.”
“You knew what you were doing when you went into the grand jury, and you lied,” Kness added. “I don’t know why you did this. Perhaps this was out of some sense of loyalty, but if that’s the case, your loyalty was greatly misguided.”
Mapes served for nearly two decades as the Democrat’s chief of staff but was forced to resign after sexual harassment allegations in June 2018.
The federal investigation into Madigan, once one of the most powerful state legislative leaders in the country, went public in 2019. Mapes testified under an immunity deal before a grand jury in 2021, in which federal prosecutors said he repeatedly lied to protect his old boss from a political corruption investigation.
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In reading a statement to the court, Mapes reportedly said he was “humbled and remorseful” for his actions.
“I also recognize that many people in the state of Illinois have lost faith in their government, and that breaks my heart,” Mapes said after taking a sip from a water bottle. “It is contrary to everything I’ve tried to do in my career, and it brings me great sorrow.”
