Jan. 15--In a bizarre twist in the red-light camera bribery trial, a prosecution witness inadvertently showed up in the juror room Friday morning and introduced herself to each of the jurors.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall delayed the start of the trial to interview each of the jurors about the inappropriate contact and any conversations that took place.
Kendall told prosecutors she was contacted by an alert juror, a 65-year-old retired pharmacist from Arlington Heights, who quickly realized the witness's mistake and instructed her to leave the jury room. The juror then immediately notified Kendall.
Prosecutors told Kendall the witness was a former landlord to the defendant, John Bills, and was being called to testify that he paid his rent in cash.
Attorneys and prosecutors were called into Kendall's chambers to interview jurors to see whether anything was said that might affect the outcome of the trial.
Bills, 54, a former longtime city official who oversaw the red light camera program, is on trial on charges he solicited more than $550,000 in cash bribes as well as a car, a boat, pricey hotel stays, golf outings, plane tickets, meals and even an Arizona condominium in return for steering multimillion-dollar contracts to the camera vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems Inc.
dkidwell@tribpub.com
