01/03/2022 / By olivia cook
Cook County Special Prosecutor Dan Webb and his team’s report found that Foxx’s office “breached its obligations of honesty and transparency” – one of the many serious allegations worthy of investigation by the bar.
According to this 60-page investigative summary, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx lied and misled the public about her communications and role in the long-standing case against 39-year-old former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, which began in January 2019.
Smollett was first charged in February for disorderly conduct for planning and paying brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo to stage a fake attack in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood. (Related. Nigerian brothers say actor Jussie Smollett orchestrated his fake attack; will Chicago DA prosecute him NOW?)
With his consent, Smollett got the brothers, who had worked with him as extras on the set of his television drama, Empire, to assault him while wearing ski masks and red hats. During the assault, the Osundairos shouted homophobic slurs and “This is MAGA country,” a reference to Donald Trump’s political slogan “Make America Great Again” while one poured a bleach-like substance on him and the other looping a rope around his neck before fleeing.
In addition to falsely reporting that he had been attacked against his will by two unknown individuals, he told Smollett Chicago detective Robert Graves that the attacker had pale skin when he previously said the attacker was white.
Foxx dropped all of Smollett’s 16-count grand jury indictments for filing false police reports in March, in exchange for the forfeiture of his $10,000 bail and completion of 16 hours of community service.
Foxx said, “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the city of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”
Foxx also said she recused herself from the prosecution of Smollett solely based upon a false rumor that she was related to the actor.
Weeks after she claimed she had recused herself, text messages showed that the Chicago prosecutor was still meddling in the Smollett case – complaining to her office that the celebrity was already facing too many charges.
Smollett’s lawyers said the case file was sealed and his record had been wiped clean, which only added to the outrage of then Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department. Emmanuel, aside from wanting the court records unsealed so that all evidence gathered by the Chicago police could be seen, also wanted the prosecutors to explain why they made such a sudden reversal.
In June, Cook County Judge Michael Toomin granted the petition for a special prosecutor filed by former appellate judge Sheila O’Brien and appointed high profile veteran litigator and former U.S. attorney Dan K. Webb to investigate the decision of Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) prosecutors to dismiss all charges against Jussie Smollett.
The appointment tasked Webb to re-investigate the Smollett case and ascertain if there’s standing to file new charges against the actor and to determine whether Foxx or any person or office involved in the case engaged in improper conduct or committed any criminal offenses.
Judge Toomin allowed the release of the report prepared by Webb and his team, which cited findings of numerous finger-pointing, misleading statements, considerable abuses of prosecutorial discretion and major operational failures in the CCSAO’s handling of the Smollett case.
Jussie Smollett was indicted a second time in February 2020, after further investigation by Webb and his team was completed and was charged with six counts of disorderly conduct related to false statements to Chicago police offers in 2019.
In December 2021, the jury found Smollett guilty on the first five out of six charges, after a contentious week of witness testimony, counsel arguments and deliberation – one count for each separate time he was charged lying to the Chicago police in the days immediately after his alleged attack. Smollett was acquitted on a sixth charge of telling a detective Robert Graves that he was an aggravated battery victim.
The guilty verdict at the trial followed the evidence of co-conspirators, a videotape, a copy of the check Smollett wrote to the Osundairo brothers and text messages that Smollett’s claim of a racist attack by supporters of former POTUS Donald Trump was a deliberately fabricated falsehood.
The Osundario brothers withdrew their prior statements and testified that Smollett paid them $3,500 and had them stage the attack near a police surveillance camera to get a video of the assault that could be shared by media.
The actor’s motivation behind the fake hate crime was self-serving, according to the defamation suit filed by the Nigerian brothers against former Smollett’s attorney Mark Geragos and current Smollett attorney Tina Glandian.
A Fox news article reported Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson saying at a news conference that Smollett orchestrated a “phony attack (in order) to take advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.”
A recently released report said Webb will be asking the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) to launch a formal inquiry into Foxx and her office to determine if Foxx and her team at the CCSAO violated professional legal ethics standards.
ARDC is the agency tasked by the Supreme Court of Illinois to conduct formal inquiries and investigate the accusations of lawyer wrongdoings in the state, such as misconduct, corruption, misrepresentation) and impose sanctions.
Former Empire star Jussie Smollett now faces sentencing, with legal experts divided on whether the actor will spend time behind bars.
Teri Austin, host and legal analyst on the Law & Crime Network, said she now has mixed feelings after Smollett’s guilty verdict and on the Dan Abrams Live show said, “I think it’s possible he will not get jail time and may only get probation… he’s definitely going to have to pay some money.”
Former Georgia judge Glenda Hatchett agrees and on the same show said, “I think it may be anywhere between six to 12 months, with the rest of the three-year sentence being suspended and him being on probation… and not be surprised to see the $25,000 fine imposed in this case.”
Defense attorney Nenye Uche expressed confidence the actor would be cleared by an appellate court because he is 100 percent innocent.
Judge James Linn set a post-trial hearing for January 2022 and would schedule Smollett’s sentencing later.
The Smollett legal saga will also continue to play out in at least two other civil cases: the lawsuit filed by the city of Chicago in April 2019 that seeks to recoup about $130,000 – the amount of money spent on overtime for CPD investigators who investigated the actor’s initial attack claim and the defamation lawsuit filed by the Osundairo brothers against Smollett’s lawyers.
Follow NewsTarget.com to keep up with the Smollett legal drama.
Watch the video below to know more about the Smollett legal drama.
This video is from the channel News Clips Now channel on Brighteon.com.
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Tagged Under: Celebrity, Celebrity Scandal, fake news hoax, fake racism, hate crime, hoax, justice system, left cult, legal ethics, legal misconduct, Libtards, MAGA, maga hate hoax, MAGA hats, rigged, rule of law, scandal, stupid, Trump, wokies
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