At the request of prosecutors, a federal judge this morning dismissed the case pending against Christopher Kelly, a onetime fund-raiser and adviser to Rod Blagojevich, who died earlier this month.
U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle agreed to dismiss the case against Kelly as well as Kelly's BCI Commercial Roofing.
Kelly, 51, of Burr Ridge, died after an apparent suicide. He had been indicted three times since 2007, including in the case involving BCI.
That case was set to go to trial in early September before Kelly pleaded guilty to charges of bid-rigging at O'Hare.
In court on Sept. 8, Kelly told the judge he felt pressures "in my life." He later died of an apparent overdose.
Earlier this week, Kelly's case before U.S. District Judge James Zagel was dismissed. In that case, he faced racketeering and extortion charges with Blagojevich. Kelly had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The dismissal of the O'Hare charges means that Kelly's agreement to turn over $450,000 in cash and home equity to the government is now voided out.
Kelly's guilty plea is wiped clean because he wasn't sentenced before his death.
But the prosecution could have pursued a case against BCI because it still exists as an entity, defense lawyer Tom Leinenweber said. The government chose to drop the case, he said.
"I think the government really did the right thing," said Leinenweber, who represents BCI Commercial. "The assets of the company will be used for his wife and children."