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Maday jury to get time to look at guns

Jurors will resume deliberations Wednesday in the trial of Robert Maday, the man charged with bank robbery, escaping custody and going on a 27-hour crime spree through the Northwest suburbs in September 2009.

About an hour into deliberations on the federal charges Tuesday afternoon, jurors asked Judge Ruben Castillo if they could examine the two guns prosecutors say Maday used — a snub-nosed revolver and a .40-caliber pistol. Judge Ruben Castillo agreed to let them examine the unloaded, locked guns in the jury room for 90 minutes Wednesday morning.

The jury also requested a transcript of testimony given by FBI Special Agent Chad Piontek, who interviewed Maday after his arrest. But Castillo said he will tell jurors Wednesday morning that they'll have to rely on what they remember from the trial, which began Jan. 2.

In September 2009, Maday, formerly of Elk Grove Village, was being driven from jail to the Cook County courthouse in Rolling Meadows to be sentenced to 13 years in jail for a series of suburban robberies when prosecutors say he slipped out of his restraints, overpowered two Cook County state's attorney investigators and escaped. Maday, now 42, was also accused of carjacking a woman in Hoffman Estates the following morning and holding up a Bloomingdale bank before leading police on a high-speed chase that ended with a car crash in West Chicago.

In closing arguments Tuesday morning, prosecutor Derek Owens methodically outlined the five federal charges against Maday, including escape, bank robbery and use of a gun in those crimes. Owens referenced a mountain of evidence, including testimony from witnesses and police officers, bank surveillance video, physical evidence and Maday's own statements to police.

Maday's attorney, Anthony Sassan, didn't try to convince the jury that Maday did not escape from custody or rob the bank, though his client has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

“I'm not going to tell you it's Wednesday when it's Tuesday,” Sassan said.

Instead, Sassan urged the jury not to lump all of the charges together and hammered on the question of whether Maday actually brandished a gun during the robbery at First American Bank in Bloomingdale.

Bank surveillance video of the robbery doesn't show Maday displaying a gun. It does show a bulge in Maday's shirt that Sassan argued is too large to be a gun.

“Challenge authority and look at all of the evidence,” Sassan said.

Prosecutors said Maday had shown the gun before and after the crime, was captured a few hours later with the gun on him, told the bank tellers he had a gun, and told police he was carrying a gun in his waistband during the robbery.

Sassan also argued that Maday was in poor physical and mental shape when he was questioned by police, but prosecutors countered that doctors found him perfectly able to understand and answer the questions being asked to him by police.

Regardless of the verdict, Maday already faces a long prison sentence — 13 years for the earlier suburban burglaries, plus 30 years in exchange for pleading guilty to other charges related to the escape, including carjacking.

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  Robert Maday is accused of overpowering two guards who were driving him to a 2009 court appearance in Rolling Meadows, forcing one to give up his shoes and switch pants with him. GEORGE LECLAIRE/gleclaire@dailyherald.com
  Investigators work the scene on the 2300 block of Hassell Road in Hoffman Estates, where Robert Maday was accused of attempting to kidnap a woman in 2009 and stealing her car. PAUL VALADE/ pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Robert Maday faces charges of robbing the First American Bank in Bloomingdale while on the loose in 2009. PAUL VALADE/ pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Police captured fugitive Robert Maday in September 2009 after a chase that ended with a car crash in West Chicago. RICK WEST/rwest@dailyherald.com
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