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CHICAGO — A judge on Friday ruled that a special prosecutor needs to investigate Cook County State's Attorney Kimberly Foxx'shandling of the Jussie Smollett case and that "the integrity of our criminal justice system" is at stake.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael Toomin ruled in favor of Sheila O'Brien, a former appellate judge who had called for a special prosecutor to investigate why charges were dropped against the "Empire" actor over his allegedly false report that he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack.


"The unprecedented irregularities identified in this case warrants the appointment of independent counsel to restore the public's confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system," wrote Toomin, who is presiding judge over the Cook County Juvenile Justice Division.
[....]
"It’s very thorough and it’s very complete," O'Brien said. "Well get the truth, the whole truth, under oath."

Foxx recused herself from a possible prosecution of Smollett, saying she had contact with the actor's family when he was believed to be a crime victim.

Toomin said Foxx was right to take herself out of the case, but then wrong to place another prosecutor from her office in charge of it. She appointed First Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Magats, to oversee the matter, when she should have sought an outside prosecutor, according to Toomin.

"Yet for reasons undisclosed even to this day, Foxx instead chose to detour from the mandated course, instead appointing Mr. Magats as `the acting State's Attorney for this mater,' " Toomin wrote.

Toomin excoriated Foxx for creating "an entity that did not exist."

"There was and is no legally cognizable office of Acting State's Attorney known in our statutes or to common law," Toomin ruled. "Its existence was only in the eye or imagination of its creator, Kim Foxx."

O'Brien said Foxx's handling of the case cried out for a special prosecutor.

"I did this because it had to be done," O'Brien said of her request. "Someone had to do it. I had time and a typewriter."
[....]
"The special prosecutor would have an opportunity to look at the evidence and effectively do this whole case over again — re-charge him, re-arraign him, reconvene the grand jury," Schmidt said. "It's like we're back to square one."
[....]

 
[....]
Police released nearly 70 hours of video, all connected to the Smollett case.

Police bodycam video shows officers arriving at Smollett's apartment in Streeterville. After going with his manager up to his apartment, they are greeted by the star with a rope coiled several times around his neck, claiming that two attackers doused him with bleach and put the noose over his head.

Police blurred Smollett's face in the video that the I-Team obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request because at the time he was considered a victim.

"He doesn't want this to be a big deal, you understand what I'm saying," Smollett's manager tells officers on the video. "The thing that makes me emotional is they put this makeshift loop, what do you call that thing, a noose around his (expletive) neck. I'm sorry, you know. And that is what bothers me, the cut thing doesn't bother me at all. If that makes any sense."
[....]
Police ask him if he wants to remove the supposed noose, which he does, and then when informed that a police body camera is recording the whole thing, the actor asks that the camera be turned off.

"You're filming this right?" Smollett's manager asks.

"Yes, this is all data," an officer responds. "It's his house."

"They are filming," Smollett's manager tells the actor. "Can we turn it off?"

"Yeah," the officer replies. "You are giving us permission to shut it off?"
[....]
Police also released bodycam video of the Osundairo brothers being detained by police at O'Hare International Airport after returning from Nigeria. They told police Smollett paid them to stage the attack.

But the key scene from the police video is Smollett sporting the rope during his first encounter with officers, while his manager tells police the actor doesn't want this to become a big deal.

Police initially charged Smollett with one count of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. A grand jury then returned an indictment for 16 counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report.
[....]

 

This all seems slightly unusual.... You can bet that these Chicago cops are pissed and want Jussies ass..... And not in a 'Jussie Smollet' sense, if you know what I mean. And they're houndin for Foxxes ass too...

Personally, I'd much rather have Foxxes ass.
 
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A Cook County judge Wednesday dismissed motions filed by Jussie Smollett's attorneys.

Attorney Tina Glandian appeared in front of Judge Michael Toomin on behalf of Smollett to overturn the judge's own decision to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate how the actor's case was handled, but it didn't work. That special prosecutor who hasn't been selected by the judge yet could recharge Smollett.


Wednesday's hearing to overturn that decision was crucial to his case and Smollett's attorneys lost. The judge dismissed the motion for a new judge and also denied a motion by Smollett's attorneys to intervene in the case.

"It's become abundantly clear that no one wants to actually deal with the merits of this case," Glandian said. "Nobody really wants the truth here....We are disappointed with the court's ruling and we're going to explore our options."

Last month, Judge Toomin said he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate why Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx dropped charges against Smollett, which could bring the case back to square one and lead to new charges for Smollett.

There is no timeline for a decision on who will be appointed as special prosecutor.

Retired Appellate Court Judge Sheila O'Brien appeared Wednesday as well. O'Brien successfully petitioned for a special prosecutor because she said she felt that the prosecution wasn't handled right and needed more transparency.

"This case is about, did the state's attorney of Cook County follow the law in her duty to prosecute?" O'Brien said. "It is not the prosecution itself. It's about what she did to prosecute Mr. Smollett."
[....]

 
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The case of ex-“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, who sparked a firestorm in Chicago by reporting a racist attack authorities have ruled a hoax, returns to court on Friday, when local media say a judge may tap a special prosecutor to review the case.
[....]
Cook County Judge Michael Toomin scheduled a status hearing related to the case for Friday morning. Court records do not indicate the purpose of the hearing, but local newspapers reported the only outstanding item remaining in the case is for Toomin to name a special prosecutor.

In June, Toomin said he would appoint a special prosecutor to the case after receiving a petition from former Illinois appellate court Judge Sheila O’Brien.

Toomin said at the time the case’s “unprecedented irregularities” warranted the appointment “to restore the public’s confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system,” the Tribune reported.

The special prosecutor could bring fresh charges against Smollett and charges against anyone else who is believed to have committed a crime during the incident and investigation, the Tribune reported, citing Toomin’s ruling in June.

 
Daniel K Webb has been appointed as special prosecutor. He is a former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and previously served as the Special Counsel in the Iran-Contra affair.


You're not getting a snippet of the article, because NYT is a bitch and thinks I need to make an account in order to access any more articles.
 
You're not getting a snippet of the article, because NYT is a bitch and thinks I need to make an account in order to access any more articles.
Fuck the NYT... It's not like they're going for honesty and veracity in journalism these days anyway...
 
Smollett is spending all his money on lawyers and PR.


28 Aug 2019
Jussie Smollett’s PR team says “every iota” of his account of being the victim of a racist, anti-gay attack in Chicago is supported by police evidence despite police repeatedly saying it was all staged.

[...]
The statement says “every iota of information … Smollett has stated has been fully corroborated.”

The statement didn’t say what evidence allegedly backs Smollett’s claim that masked men hurling racist and homophobic insults beat him and looped a noose around his neck.
[...]
 
CHICAGO -- Jussie Smollett's attorneys say the actor shouldn't have to pay Chicago $130,000 for the police investigation into what he claimed was a racist and homophobic attack because he had no way of knowing how much time officers would spend on the probe. :D

That argument contained in a filing this week by Smollett's attorneys is the latest effort to have the city's federal lawsuit dismissed.

Attorneys say Smollett couldn't have known that his police report after the alleged January attack would trigger 1,836 hours of police overtime and that such reports don't typically result in such extensive investigations.

 
that such reports don't typically result in such extensive investigations.

If you're just an ordinary person going about your day, correct, they wouldn't spend much time at all on it, but for the FAMOUS JUSSIE SMOLLET, they would, and he knew they would, it's all about the infamousness of it all.

All publicity is good if it is intelligent. The thought behind the proverb had been expressed earlier by Oscar Wilde: The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. ... There's no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.
 
A federal judge has denied a request from former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett to dismiss the city of Chicago’s lawsuit against him, meaning the city may proceed with its push to reclaim $130,000 it says the police department spent investigating the actor’s allegedly false claims.

In a brief hearing Tuesday morning, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall rejected a dismissal request from Smollett, stating that it was not unreasonable for the Chicago Police Department to direct the resources it did into the high-profile investigation.
[....]
But Smollett’s attorneys claimed that simply filing a police report – whether accurate or not – did not “necessitate a sprawling investigation,” nor does it typically “result in an investigation as extensive as the one the (Chicago Police Department) chose to undertake in this case.”

By submitting that report, they claim, all Smollett did was “enable” Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors to “decide whether and how to investigate.”

Smollett was not present in court Tuesday. His civil attorney William Quinlan told reporters after the hearing he had not yet spoken with his client about the ruling, but said he was not surprised by Kendall’s decision.

“My client has always maintained his innocence,” Quinlan said. “He is happy to have this decided on the facts and believes that when the facts come out, it will show his innocence.”

With the case moving ahead, both sides will now have the opportunity to conduct depositions under oath to try and answer the who, what, when, where and why of Smollett’s alleged attack. That could include the Osundairo brothers, who previously testified under oath before a grand jury just before Smollett was criminally charged.

While those charges were dismissed, special prosecutor Dan Webb has been appointed to investigate whether further criminal charges are warranted against the actor.

Kendall gave the parties until February 2020 to settle discovery in the civil case and a trial may not begin until next summer.

Quinlan noted it may be more expensive for his client to fight the city’s claims than to just pay the $130,000. But he reiterated that Smollett has maintained his innocence and believes “you don’t put a price tag on that.”

“So he’s willing to spend what it takes to prove his innocence,” he said, “because unfortunately he has been proven guilty in the media more than proven innocent.”

 
But Smollett’s attorneys claimed that simply filing a police report – whether accurate or not – did not “necessitate a sprawling investigation,” nor does it typically “result in an investigation as extensive as the one the (Chicago Police Department) chose to undertake in this case.”

What the lawyers are saying he did is kinda like yelling fire in a crowded theatre, maybe all you wanted to do is to apprise the theatre goers of the possibility that they may roast to death, so you're certainly not responsibility when people are killed and/or trampled on their way out.

I think if we're dealing with "reasonable people" they would know how yelling fire in a crowded theatre would end, Just like Jussie should/did know how reporting his "attack" would end.
 
FTA - But Smollett’s attorneys claimed that simply filing a police report – whether accurate or not – did not “necessitate a sprawling investigation,” nor does it typically “result in an investigation as extensive as the one the (Chicago Police Department) chose to undertake in this case.”

Doesn't fucking matter. 'I didn't know they'd spend that much investigating my made-up hate crime' is an excuse even a 4-yearold would avoid.

He obviously underestimated the levels the CPD would go in investigating a hate crime against a well known actor.
 
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