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After his office shocked the country by suddenly abandoning all charges against former "Empire" star Jussie Smollett and sealing all records, Chicago State Attorney Kim Foxx, has officially lost the trust of Chicago police, the Democratic mayor of Chicago. and now the editors of the city's venerated newspaper, the Chicago Tribune.
In a staggering development on Tuesday, Foxx's office announced sharply that he was abandoning all charges against Smollett and was burying the case. "After reviewing all the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollet's voluntary service in the community and his agreement to relinquish his connection with the city of Chicago, we believe that this result is a decision just and an appropriate resolution, "Foxx's office announced. without prior warning to the police or the mayor on Tuesday.
The actions of the Foxx office, said Chicago Tribune editors in an editorial released Tuesday, are simply "indefensible".
"After state prosecutor, Kim Foxx, made misjudgments that led him to recuse himself, Chicago investigators devoting thousands of hours of meticulous work to a job meticulous, after Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson urges Smollett to have dragged the city's name into the mud, after the procurator's case before a grand jury, after the grand jurors have indicted Smollett for 16 Charge of disorderly conduct … after all, Cook County prosecutors shocked residents of Chicago and the rest of the country on Tuesday that they were abandoning all charges against Smollett , "The editors of the newspaper write. "That is, the Foxx office basically says: It does not matter. Not serious. Moving forward."
"It's an indefensible decision, an agreement reached in secret, with – it's outrageous – Smollett not even held to appropriate his apparent hoax," they continue. "Not even required to apologize for allegedly exploiting hate crime laws, and not even paying Chicago taxpayers the huge cost of this investigation." The result is that Chicagoans and their fellow Americans feel "trapped by the Foxx office and used by Smollett."
Smollett and his lawyers – including Mark Geragos, who was named as an accomplice in federal charges against Michael Avenatti – celebrated the decision of state attorney as having completely "exonerated" him. actor. Smollett said Tuesday in a brief statement that he was the real victim, as he always insisted.
"I am honest and consistent at all levels since the first day," Smollett insisted at a press conference on Tuesday. "It was an incredibly difficult time, honestly one of the worst of my life." He then promised to "continue to fight for justice, equality and the improvement of the living conditions of marginalized people".
At a joint press conference on Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson condemned Foxx's office acts. "It's a laundering justice," Emanuel said. "Where is the responsibility in the system? You can not have, because of the position of one person, a set of rules that apply to him and another set of rules applying to everyone . "
The Tribune agrees with Emanuel and Johnson: Smollett was to be held responsible. "Liability, or lack of accountability, is at the heart of Tuesday's dizziness." Smollett walks, simply giving up the $ 10,000 bond he paid.
After immediately reacting en masse, the first assistant's lawyer, Joe Magats, gave a "clarification" to the press: "We did not exonerate him," Magats said, adding that prosecutors thought that he was really guilty and that the police investigation was solid. . "It's a mistake and it's wrong to read in the decision that there's something wrong or that we've learned something we did not already know about the case," Magats told the Tribune .
So, the Tribune, Emanuel, Johnson and so many others are wondering: why give up the case and let someone evade the accountability, not repay the city for all the resources seemingly wasted and take advantage of the opportunity to claim an "exemption"? There is no defensible answer.
Related: Who is Kim Foxx? Five things to know about the controversial Chicago Attorney
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