The case hinges on wiretapped phone calls, secret recordings, emails, and other messages. For days, Fidel Marquez, a politically-connected former ComEd executive, has been answering questions about his role in all of it. Attorneys on Wednesday brought the ...

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.

Seizing on a tactic strengthened by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, defense attorneys in the Michael Madigan corruption trial began their cross-examination of a key witness Tuesday by trying to distinguish between exchanging jobs for official actions and simply currying favor with the formidable ex-House speaker.

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.