(Feb. 21, 2019 – Source: Getty Images North America
*Cook County state’s attorney Kim Foxx is running for re-election but her handling of the Jussie Smollett case is raising a few eyebrows.
Smollett was recently indicted on new charges related to his “hoax” attack in January 2019, when he claimed to have been the victim of a racist, homophobic assault in Chicago. But cops determined he paid two Nigerian brothers to help him stage the attack in an elaborate hoax because he was unhappy with his “Empire” salary and wanted sympathy to secure a fatter paycheck.
Smollett was indicted on 16 counts for filing a false police report after alleging two masked men hurled anti-gay slurs at him, doused him with bleach and tied a noose around his neck. The charges were ultimately dropped but a special prosecutor was assigned to review the case last summer.
Earlier this month, Smollett was charged with lying to police in a six-count, grand jury indictment.
Foxx previously said she received death threats after her office decided to drop charges against the actor.
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Real criminal justice reform starts with trust. The support of community members & leaders across Illinois shows a trust that our reform measures are working. It represents a belief that our system is changing for the better. We have made so much progress, and we can’t stop now. pic.twitter.com/eS706Emf0o
— Kim Foxx (@KimFoxxforSA) February 19, 2020
Foxx admitted she made mistakes with the Smollett case and several of her challengers won’t let het put the scandal behind her so easily.
According to The Blast, attorney and former alderman Bob Fioretti, former prosecutors Bill Conway and Donna More – are challenging Foxx in the Democratic primary, and More has noted, “We know why Kim Foxx has refused to talk about the case.”
Conway says Smollett got a “sweetheart deal” from Cook County prosecutors, as such, Foxx’s opponents are bringing the case back to the forefront as the State’s Attorney’s race heats up.
When recently asked at a forum on criminal justice reform what she learned from the Smollett experience, Foxx explained:
“I learned that change is hard,” Foxx answered. “We started this administration talking about the fact that we were going to use our criminal justice system to deal with violence. And those cases that could be dealt with outside of the justice system, we would deal with outside of the justice system. But even as you do that, you have to keep people informed. You have to talk about it. You can’t do things where people don’t understand. Because once that happens, once the misunderstanding happens, it’s hard to unwind that. So I think the biggest lesson that I’ve learned thus far, and not that there aren’t ongoing lessons, is making sure that we are keeping the public informed about not just what we do, but why we do what we do.”
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