US EditionFormer Ald. Carrie Austin Found Unfit to Stand Trial
COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, JUL 8 – Judge John Kness ruled that serious health conditions, including lung and heart ailments and cancer, prevent Carrie Austin from safely participating in her federal bribery and FBI lying trial.
- In 2025, U.S. District Judge John Kness determined that former Chicago alderman Carrie Austin’s serious health conditions prevent her from participating in the bribery and FBI-related trial, leading to the postponement of her case.
- Austin's chronic pulmonary and heart conditions worsened over years, leading her attorneys to argue her incapacity in 2022 after a 2021 collapse that required hospitalization.
- The allegations involve Austin accepting home improvements from developers linked to a $49.6 million residential project in her ward starting in 2014, with benefits such as cabinets, sump pumps, and dehumidifiers.
- Judge Kness noted that simple tasks exhaust Austin and that trial procedures would have an 'adverse effect' on her health, while prosecutors cited FBI surveillance showing her walking without assistance.
- The decision delays trial proceedings, with a status hearing scheduled for January 2025, and leaves Austin’s legal situation likely unresolved due to her continuing poor health.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Federal Judge Steps In To Aid Former Democrat Chicago Official Caught In Huge Bribery Scandal - The American Tribune.com
A federal judge has stepped in to aid an aging former Democrat Chicago official after she was accused of bribery and lying to federal government employees, with the judge saying that the former official is unfit for trial based on her age and failing health. For background, Carrie Austin, a 76-year-old former Chicago alderman, is the subject of an unresolved federal indictment filed in 2021, which accused her of bribery and lying to the FBI afte…
Journal Gazette & Times-Courier
Herald & ReviewJudge rules ex-Chicago alderwoman medically unfit to face trial on corruption charges
The judge said 76-year-old Carrie Austin’s medical conditions, which include COPD, heart ailments and cancer, make the prospect of a jury trial “an unacceptable risk to her health.”
Fed judge rules Chicago alderman is unfit to face trial for bribery, corruption charges
An entrenched city councilwoman from the Windy City will likely skirt charges of corruption due to her age and poor health. Former alderman Carrie Austin, 76, was […]
Fed judge rules Chicago alderman is unfit to face trial for bribery, corruption charges · American Wire News
An entrenched city councilwoman from the Windy City will likely skirt charges of corruption due to her age and poor health. Former alderman Carrie Austin, 76, was indicted in July 2021 by a grand jury “for allegedly conspiring to receive home improvements from construction contractors seeking city assistance for a development project” in her Far South Side ward, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said at the time, F…
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