Jussie Smollett Could Be RECHARGED, Attorney DEMANDS Special Prosecutor
Jussie Smollett Could Be RECHARGED, Attorney DEMANDS Special Prosecutor. Citing the irregularities of the Jussie Smollett case a former State's Attorney demands a real special prosecutor investigate the potential cover up and interference.Smollett had 16 felony charges mysteriously drop to the shock and anger of law enforcement and even the Illinois Prosecutor's Bar Association.In a leaked email it even appears that Kim Foxx was trying to find justification for letting Jussie Smollett off without a criminal record. Police have now voted "no confidence" in Kim Foxx but also claim to be preparing a lawsuit against against Smollett to recoup the cost of the investigation.
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A former state's attorney is calling for a special prosecutor in Chicago to investigate whether or not Kim Foxx and the state attorney's office interfered in Smollett's prosecution.
This could result in Jussie Smollett being recharged.
Apparently, because he didn't come close to a trial, double jeopardy doesn't come into effect.
The charges could be brought back.
Following this, Chicago police have voted no confidence in the state's attorney's office and are still trying to seek restitution through other means.
They're now threatening to sue Jussie Smollett for the cost of the investigation into what they say were false allegations and a false police report.
Smollett's team has responded to this and they're rather upset, claiming the charges were dismissed and he is innocent.
Today, let's take a look at the latest news from Jussie Smollett's case and several examples showing us that Smollett probably will not be able to escape justice in this circumstance.
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Our first story from the Chicago Tribune.
Attorney calls for special prosecutor to investigate if Kim Foxx interfered in Jussie Smollett investigation.
The story says the filing by Sani Muhammad, who until recently was an assistant state's attorney in Foxx's office, marked the first formal request that a special prosecutor be appointed since the bombshell decision last week to drop all charges against Smollett.
...saying Fox's handling of the case was plagued with irregularity.
Mohammed's 10-page petition asked the presiding criminal court judge, Leroy Martin Jr., appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether Fox acted to impede the investigation, concealed evidence, and or intentionally misled the public.
The petition noted that no written agreement was entered in dropping the charges against Smollett, and he was not required to admit any wrongdoing, allowing him to perpetrate the same lie that formed the basis of the crime.
Indeed, Mr. Smollett now claims the dismissal of the charges exonerates him and validates that he was not only the victim of a hate crime, but also that he was unjustly vilified and smeared by the Chicago police and the entire Cook County criminal justice system, the petition said.
Mohammed also alleged that after communicating with a relative of Smollett and a politically connected ally of the actor's family, Foxx improperly used her position to intervene in the investigation on his behalf.
Even though Foxx acknowledged she stepped aside from the case because of the potential conflict, she failed to properly recuse herself and her office, he said.
Not only was Foxx's failure to recuse herself improper, given that she admitted to having an actual conflict, Fox has in essence doubled down on her office's decision not to prosecute Smollett and insists that her decision was consistent with prosecutorial discretion, the petition said.
In a brief telephone interview Thursday, Mohammed said he filed the petition because there has to be a way for the public to know that there's no separate justice system for different classes of people.
Mohammed said he had served as a Cook County prosecutor from November 2014 until last month, when he left to start his own practice.
He initially did not pay much attention to Smollett's charges, but comments on social media after last week's abrupt dismissal caught his eye, he said.
So he began to dig into the facts of the hot button case.
He said he hopes that a special prosecutor will refile the dismissed charges and go back and do it the right way.
I just want to make sure that the right thing is done.
Now there are a few interesting points in this story.
We'll start with the first one.
He hopes that a prosecutor will refile the dismissed charges.
According to Chicago Tribune reporter Megan Crepeau, she says, Sani Mohammed, the attorney who filed the petition, is a former Cook County prosecutor who left his office last month to go into private practice.
For the record, quite a few attorney sources have told me Smollett could technically be recharged, since the charges were dismissed before they even got within spitting distance of trial.
It wouldn't fall under double jeopardy.
However, the likelihood of that happening, I would venture a guess, is low.
And getting a special prosecutor in the first place, that can be a high bar to clear.
Now, even though this reporter feels the likelihood that Jesse will be recharged is low, it doesn't mean there won't be some other form of justice.
While they may not get a special prosecutor, there is sentiment within law enforcement that there must be some form of justice.
The other interesting bit from this story is that they claim she failed to recuse herself and this was improper.
And that sentiment was echoed by the Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association in a statement several days ago.
They said, when an elected state's attorney recuses herself from a prosecution, Illinois law provides that the court shall appoint a special prosecutor.
Typically, the special prosecutor is a neighboring state's attorney, the attorney general, or the state appellate prosecutor.
Here, the state's attorney kept the case within her office and thus never actually recused herself as a matter of law.
In reference to the dismissal of the charges, the IPBA said this action was highly unusual, not a statutory diversion program, and not in accordance with well-accepted practices of state's attorney-initiated diversionary programs.
To be clear here, this simply was not a deferred prosecution.
A former aide to Michelle Obama reached out to Kim Foxx.
Because of this, there was a bit of outrage from law enforcement, and Kim Foxx said she was recusing herself.
But as we have just heard, she did not.
A special prosecutor should have been appointed, and wasn't, and now there is a formal request that this happens.
But on the police side of things, not only have they voted no confidence in Kim Foxx, they are demanding money from Smollett, and Smollett actually responded.
This story from yesterday.
First, we'll look at the no confidence vote.
From ABC7 Chicago.
After Justice Millett's case, Cook County police chiefs announced they have no confidence
in state's attorney Kim Foxx.
The Chicago Police Union and dozens of Cook County police chiefs banded together Thursday
to announce a no-confidence vote in state's attorney Kim Foxx.
The press conference came after her office's controversial decision to drop charges against
Justice Millett over his alleged staged attack.
In a statement, they said, We cannot stand for this any longer.
Kim Foxx needs to resign, and she should do it quickly.
She's putting criminals back on the street either during the process, not charging them at all, or allowing them on the street to commit again, said Stephen Stelter, West Suburban Chiefs of Police Association.
Many times the hoops we have to go through to get a felony charge and most of the time they are not approved or charges are dismissed in court without an officer's opinion.
Earlier that day, we heard that the Chicago police were going to sue Jussie Smollett after he refused to pay $130,000 in investigation costs.
The story adds the city's law department says in a statement Thursday that it would be drafting a lawsuit in response and would sue the Empire actor in Cook County Civil Court.
The city, quote, will file the suit in the near future.
And just this morning, Jussie Smollett's legal team responded with a letter asserting Smollett's innocence.
Jussie Smollett's legal team has sent a letter to the Chicago Law Department saying they would insist on sworn depositions for Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and Mayor Rahm Emanuel if a lawsuit is filed by the city against Smollett to try to recover about $130,000 in costs.
I'm not going to read the entire letter, but Smollett's legal team says that not only is he innocent and has no reason to pay this, it would be unconstitutional, but they consider it to be harassment.
They state, your letter constitutes part of a course of conduct intended to harass and irreparably injure Mr. Smollett.
As explained below, your letter is both factually and legally flawed and Mr. Smollett will not be intimidated into paying the demanded sum.
The letter ends by saying, if, despite the deficiencies above, you file a civil action against Mr. Smollett, please be advised that in addition to raising the appropriate legal defenses, one, we'll demand the prompt production of the entire investigation file in this matter, including the full discovery from the criminal action which was never provided to the defense.
We will demand that you promptly produce for deposition Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, Abimbola Osundairo, Olabinjo Osundairo, and Attorneys Gloria Schmidt and Jorge Rodriguez.
And three, we will seek to have all records and hearings on this matter be open to the public.
In light of the apparent vested interest in this matter, we are confident that Mayor Emanuel and Superintendent Johnson will not object to providing their testimony under oath, Mr. Smollett's preference remains, however, that this matter be closed and that he be allowed to move on with his life.
We're available to discuss this matter further.
Things could get pretty interesting if a suit is filed.
They want deposition on the record?
They want the investigative files released?
These files were sealed by the court.
Now, why would they want them open to the public?
It's really interesting.
Perhaps there is a possibility that the prosecution realized the police were wrong, lied, or were manipulating the investigation.
Or, perhaps this is a tactic to make it seem like Jussie actually is innocent, and to try and convince people he's open to transparency, thinking the police will never want any of this stuff on the record.
At any rate, most people believe Jussie is guilty.
You even have a former state's attorney saying, special prosecutor now.
You had a former Michelle Obama aide interfering in this case, and Kim Fox never recused herself.
The whole thing stinks.
So perhaps what we need here is a bit of transparency.
Perhaps Smollett's legal team is correct.
Let's see all of these files released.
And I would like to know why they were sealed in the first place.
If it turns out it was prosecutorial or police wrongdoing, good.
We should know about it.
It shouldn't be sealed and the public has a right to know what actually happened here.
But in the end, most people just believe Smollett is guilty and is getting away with committing a crime.
So if a special prosecutor is appointed, we all assume it's gonna be bad news for Smollett and he could be recharged.
But let me know what you think in the comments below.
We'll keep the conversation going.
Why do you think they're calling for transparency on this matter?
And do you think Smollett might actually face justice, be it monetary restitution or getting arrested and charged again?
Comment below.
We'll carry on with the conversation.
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