The prosecutor in the Jussie Smollett case threw shade at the Mayor of Chicago and the Police Superintendent as she bizarrely tried to explain away her decision to cut the actor loose from the justice system.
Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx wrote an op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune, in which she says the case against Smollett was not a slam dunk. Foxx is clearly pointing the finger at Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who came out strongly in a news conference after Smollett was charged, saying the evidence was clear — Smollett paid the Osundairo brothers to stage an “attack.”
Foxx says, “For a variety of reasons, including public statements made about the evidence in this case, my office believed the likelihood of securing a conviction was not certain.” She doesn’t explain how those public statements would affect the case.
Foxx goes on to diminish the alleged crimes, saying Smollett was charged with a low-level felony, “The least serious category, which also covers things like falsely pulling a fire alarm in school and ‘draft card mutilation.'” So, Foxx is comparing filing a false police report and falsely alleging a hate crime is like pulling a fire alarm.
She says, “These felonies are routinely resolved, particularly in cases involving suspects with no prior criminal record, long before a case ever nears a courtroom and often without either jail time or monetary penalties.” What she’s not telling you … the way these cases are typically resolved is with a plea bargain … and not outright dismissal. Remember, Jussie did no formal community service.
She then goes after Mayor Emanuel and Superintendent Johnson, saying, “Any law-enforcement leader or elected official not grandstanding or clouded by political expediency understands the purpose of sentencing guidelines.” NOTE: Smollett was not sentenced. He was let go.
And, there’s this … She says “Yes, falsely reporting a hate crime makes me angry … [but] we must separate the people at whom we are angry from the people of whom we are afraid.” In other words, no fear, no case?