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Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx, who was widely accused of meddling in the Jussie Smollett case after recusing herself from it, has claimed Jussie Smollett’s 150-day jail term is ‘mob justice’ and an example of the system failing.
Foxx is the Cook County State’s Attorney – one of the most senior prosecutors in the state of Illinois.
In January 2019, when the crime was first reported to police as a hate crime and Smollett was still being considered a victim, she exchanged text messages with his a friend of the Smollett family who was angry about the Chicago Police Department leaking details of the case.
Foxx personally lobbied the then-chief of police, Eddie Johnson, to have it moved into the care of the FBI. When her involvement was revealed as Smollett became more and more of a suspect, she recused herself.
She then however continued to meddle, instructing deputy Joseph Magats to ignore the recommendation of a grand jury who charged Smollett with lying 16 times.
Under the direction of Foxx’s fury, Magats entered a deal with Smollett which meant he would serve 15 hours of community service and pay a $10,000 fine to avoid jail and have the whole case wiped.
Now, after a different prosecutor successfully convicted Smollett of lying, Foxx is claiming that the 150 sentence he received (a seventh of the maximum he was facing), is too harsh.
Chicago State’s Attorney Kim Foxx – who dropped the charges against Smollett in March 2019 – claimed on Friday that the case against Smollett was ‘mob justice’
Smollett yesterday reacting after being sentenced to 150 days in jail. He said yelled out that if anything happens to him in custody it’s the jail’s fault because he is not suicidal
In 2019, before Smollett was charged, an unnamed friend of the Smollett family was in contact with Foxx. The family was upset about how many details of the investigation were being leaked to the press. They wanted it to be handed over from the Chicago Police Department to the FBI and Foxx (whose text is in blue) told ‘the friend’ she was trying to get it done for them
Foxx also emailed Tina Tchen, another friend of the Smollett family, to tell her she was working on getting the case handed over to the FBI to limit the amount the media knew about it
Writing for The Chicago Sun Times, the unapologetically Democratic prosecutor wrote: ‘On Thursday, the damaging, costly, and disingenuous criminal prosecution of Jussie Smollett came to an end.
‘As Cook County State’s Attorney, it pains me deeply to say that, in this particular case, our justice system failed.’
She went on to claim that Smollett was presumed guilty from the beginning, ignoring whether or not he actually committed the crime that Judge James Linn yesterday said amounted to ‘astounding hypocrisy’.
Foxx insisted that the story ‘should have ended’ with her office’s decision not to pursue any criminal action against Smollett back in March 2019.
‘Taxpayers have since spent millions of dollars for the criminal prosecution of a hoax,’ she said.
‘Rather than working collaboratively to stem rising crime or free the wrongly convicted, a small group of people hijacked the judicial system to enact what is best described as mob justice,’ she fumed.
She is one of a handful of prosecutors across America who is opting for no cash bail in a majority of crimes, a trend that many say is contributing to widespread repeat offenses.
Foxx recused herself when it became clear that Smollett was a suspect. After a grand jury indicted him on 16 counts of lying to police, she told her deputy Joseph Magats not to pursue the charges, calling them excessive for ‘a washed up celeb who lied to cops’
‘Smollett was indicted, tried and convicted by a kangaroo prosecution in a matter of months. Meanwhile, the families of more than 50 Black women murdered in Chicago over the last 20 years await justice,’ she said.
Inmate number 20220310140 in Chicago’s Cook County Jail, Jussie Smollett
The judge and the prosecution blamed Smollett for wasting precious police and prosecutorial resources with his report of the fake hate crime.
Foxx was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in her handling of the case.
In her piece for the Chicago Sun Times, she says she was targeted by the same ‘mob’ that Smollett was.
‘Black women elected prosecutors around the country have faced the same mob mentality,’ she wrote.
She goes on: ‘The same special prosecutor pursued a targeted, predetermined “investigation” of my involvement with the case.
‘Knowing I had done nothing wrong but that objecting to the process would be painted as guilt, I cooperated. Predictably, the probe found no criminal wrongdoing and still un-ironically accused me of “abuses of discretion.”
‘It’s a playbook: attack and marginalize anyone fighting to create a more just system, one that recognizes the rule of law,’ she said.
