Judge slaps Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx with subpoena to appear in court over Jussie Smollett dismissal
More details about the fallout in Chicago over the city's top prosecutor, Kim Foxx's decision to drop charges against Jussie Smollett.
The fallout continues in Chicago over the decision to drop charges against Jussie Smollett.
Judge Sheila O’Brien has subpoenaed Chicago’s top prosecutor Kim Foxx to appear in court for a hearing over her handling of the “Empire” actor’s case which sparked headlines around the world.
Smollett has also been requested to appear, according to the Daily Mail.
Foxx came under fire in March when her office announced it was ending the case against Smollett, who faced 16 felony disorderly conduct charges for allegedly filing a false police report.
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Smollett’s lawyers have maintained their client’s innocence. On January 29, the star claimed that two masked men attacked him, threw a noose around his neck, and called him racist and homophobic slurs
Outgoing mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration filed suit earlier this month against the embattled actor to reportedly recoup the cost of the police overtime dedicated to solving the hate crime that police allege Smollet staged against himself.
“The Law Department has filed a civil complaint against Mr. Smollett in the Circuit Court of Cook County that pursues the full measure of damages allowed under the false statements ordinance,” Department of Law spokesperson Bill McCaffrey said in a statement. “This follows his refusal to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019.”
Ola and Abel Osundairo, the brothers who police maintain were paid to carry out a fake attack, are suing the actor’s lawyers Mark Geragos and Tina Glandian for defamation.
The brothers say in their complaint filed in U.S. District Court, that Smollett’s attorneys defamed them by claiming they carried out the alleged homophobic and racist attack of their own accord.
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Judge O’Brien is pushing for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Kim Foxx’s handling of the high profile case.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times she labeled Foxx’s handling of the case as “plagued with irregularity.”
O’Brien requested that the original documents used in Smollett’s criminal case be produced to “assure” the public ‘that they have not been altered or destroyed and will not be destroyed throughout this case, according to court documents shared by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Since the scandal, three members of Kim Foxx’s Cook County prosecution team, including her chief ethics officer and chief spokesman, have resigned from her office.
