This afternoon, defense attorneys abruptly rested their case in the corruption trial of four former Chicago city officials.
The defendants are accused of rigging city hiring to channel jobs and promotions to politically connnected people.
After just two witnesses - and a handful of short statements about evidence - defense attorneys called it quits.
As expected, prosecutors made no comments on the turn of events.
Lead defense attorney Tom Durkin told reporters the move illustrates his confidence about how the trials gone.
“I didn’t put on a case because I don’t have to put on a case,” Durkin says. “The government has to put their case on. It was our decision that we didn’t think that they did it well enough. We’re not obligated to put a case on, and I didn’t feel it was necessary.”
After the defense rested, U.S. District Judge David Coar told attorneys he would like to finalize jury instructions by the weekend, and begin closing arguments on Monday.
Durkin told Coar he’d like consider sequestering the jury, though he said defense attorneys haven’t agreed on the idea yet.