Illinois quick hits: Mapes to be sentenced Monday; hearing set for gun ban challenge
Mapes to be sentenced Monday
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s longtime chief of staff is set to be sentenced at a hearing Monday after a judge rejected his request for a delay in the case.
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 want Mapes to spend up to five years in prison.
Hearing set for gun ban challenge
The challenge against Illinois’ gun and magazine ban on the merits continues in the Southern District of Illinois federal court.
Attorneys from the four plaintiffs groups suing the state will meet with federal Judge Stephen McGlynn Feb. 28 for a scheduling conference. They’re expected to discuss the witnesses, experts and evidence they plan to present at trial. Illinois banned 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines over certain capacities last year.
Violent weekend in Chicago
Chicago police report at least 18 people were shot in the city over the weekend with one fatality.
Police also warn of several armed robberies on the South Shore, as well as 12 restaurant burglaries in the Near North Side and River North communities. While murder is down over the last three years in Chicago, robberies, burglaries and theft are up.