Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (above, insert) speaks out, as prosecutors scramble to justify their actions regarding Jussie Smollett‘s case!
As we reported, the Empire star is no longer facing 16 felony counts for allegedly orchestrating his January Chicago attack.
Related: The ‘Empire’ Cast & Crew Are Still FIERCELY Divided Over Jussie Smollett
On Wednesday, Foxx — who recused herself from the case a week before Smollett was charged — defended the highly controversial decision.
(First Assistant to the Cook County State’s Attorney Joseph Magats previously said prosecutors dropped the case because Smollett does not have a violent criminal history, and allegedly lying about the incident was not a violent crime.)
While speaking to WBEZ Radio in Chicago, the 46-year-old lawyer said:
“I think that there is a lot of confusion. For people who do this work every day, who recognize what the charges are — this is a Class 4 felony — we recognize that the likelihood that someone would get a prison sentence for a Class 4 felony is slim. And so, I think the confusion for people who don’t understand the intricacies of the justice system, who don’t understand alternative prosecution or diversion or alternate outcomes outside of prison or lengthy probation, it’s a hard thing for people to process… If you took the celebrity out of this and looked at Class 4 felonies, or if you were able to isolate out what happens with other disorderly conduct cases when the defendant is not a celebrity, and to see if this is out of line, and I think that gives greater clarity. But, right now, there’s a lot of emotion. And I wholeheartedly believe that in our work we cannot be driven by emotions. We have to be driven by facts.”
Additionally, during an interview with CBS Chicago, Foxx denied that her office fixed the actor’s case.
“This case was treated like the other cases that have gone through our alternative prosecution model. He was given the same opportunity that thousands of others with the same level of offense, and the same criminal background, have had. The same opportunity.”
Since taking office in December 2016, Foxx said her office has dropped 5,700 felony cases through alternative prosecution.
She added:
“I believe that the outcome, him having to forfeit the $10,000, having to do community service, based on the allegations, and again the class 4 felony and no background, are an outcome that we could expect with this type of case.”
Reportedly, Smollett performed a total of 16 hours of volunteer service on Saturday and Monday for the Rainbow Push Coalition, which was founded by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
WATCH a clip of her interview (below):
Also on Wednesday, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office circulated an email asking prosecutors to come up with other examples where they dropped felony charges, similar to Smollett’s situation.
The memo — obtained by CBS Chicago reporter Charlie De Mar — read:
“We are looking for examples of cases, felony preferable, where we, in exercising our discretion, have entered into verbal agreements with defense attorneys to dismiss charges against an offender if certain conditions were met, such as the payment of restitution, completion of community service, completion of class, etc., but the defendant was not placed in a formal diversion program.”
In terms of restitution, Jussie forfeited his $10k bond.
The message continued:
“Nobody is in trouble, we are just looking for further examples of how we, as prosecutors, use our discretion in a way that restores the victim, but causes minimal harm to the defendant in the long term.”
As seen on Twitter:
According to TMZ on Wednesday, Smollett was spotted at O’Hare International Airport, where he is jetting out of Chicago.
[Image via CBS Chicago/YouTube/Brian To/WENN.]
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