Hastert expected to plead guilty in hush-money case
Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert is expected to enter a guilty plea Wednesday in a federal hush-money case.
Hastert, who federal prosecutors say violated federal banking laws and lied to the FBI about his reasons for doing so, is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin at 8:30 a.m.
Before a courtroom packed with media and spectators earlier this year, Hastert originally pleaded not guilty to charges that he had withdrawn about $1.7 million to pay off an individual and keep secret "misconduct" dating to his days as a wrestling coach at Yorkville High School. But earlier this month, Durkin set a change-of-plea hearing for today.
Prosecutors say Hastert, 73, withdrew the money from his accounts between 2010 and 2014 and structured the withdrawals in amounts less than $10,000 to avoid bank reporting requirements.
The federal complaint said the Plano Republican agreed to pay a total of $3.5 million to someone identified only as "Individual A," who it said has known Hastert most of his life. It did not specify the wrongdoing, but The Associated Press reported the payments were to silence allegations of sexual misconduct.
Hastert taught history and coached wrestling at Yorkville High from 1965 to 1981.
Hastert's guilty plea could ensure details about why he agreed to pay the money to "Individual A" will not be divulged in court. It also may affect his sentence, reducing what some attorneys refer to as a "trial tax."
During a trial, a judge is likely to hear more sordid details of a crime than he or she would if presented with a plea agreement, said former U.S. attorney Patrick Collins. Those details may result in the judge viewing the crime in an even more negative light, Collins said.
While "not always the case, it's a rule of thumb most practitioners assume" that an admission of guilt could translate to a more lenient sentence, said Collins, a partner in the Perkins Coi law firm.
"It's hard to ask for mercy if you don't acknowledge you did it," he said, adding "the benefits are twofold. The judge doesn't hear the details and the defendant accepts responsibility."
The fact that no pretrial motions were filed suggested the case was not going to make it to trial, Collins said, referencing defense attorneys' statements about filing motions to dismiss based on leaks.
"That they didn't do so was meaningful," Collins said, adding he has not yet seen a case go to trial without the filing of pretrial motions.
The judge presiding over Hastert's case is the brother of longtime Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs. The judge, who donated a total of $1,500 to Hastert's election campaigns in 2002 and 2004, worked with Hastert's son Ethan Hastert when Durkin was a partner at Mayer Brown, a Chicago law firm.
Judge Durkin, who is also a former federal prosecutor, said he could be impartial but offered to recuse himself if either side wanted him to do so. Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys raised objections to him presiding over the case.