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CHICAGO – Two senior officials from the Cook County Attorney's Office have resigned, including April Perry, Chief Ethics Officer of the state's attorney, Kim Foxx, cited by the latter as the person who had advised her to "recuse himself" in the Jussie Smollett case, which upset the trial. Chicago office, Fox News learned Thursday.
Mark Rotert, the director of the Integrity Conviction Unit, has also resigned, according to a spokesman for Foxx. Perry and Rotert should work their last days in May.
"While I am lucky to have been able to spend the last 15 years of my career in the public service, I look forward to my next private sector project, where I have the opportunity to continue to work to increase security. of our community., "Perry wrote in a April 15 letter obtained by Fox News via a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request.
The Chicago high prosecutor has been criticized for her handling of Smollett's criminal case – including her questionable challenge and the way her office suddenly dropped the charges against the 36-year-old "Empire" actor on Wednesday. March 26th.
A grand jury indicted the actor under 16 counts in early March. Foxx's office dropped the lawsuit about three weeks later, saying that Smollett had been offered a "delayed prosecution" because he had lost his $ 10,000 bail and had done some work of interest general. A large part of the legal community reprimanded Foxx's explanations, including the National District Attorneys Association and the Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association, who had concluded that Foxx "had fundamentally misled the public" and should have withdrawn from the case.
THE PROSECUTOR OF THE STATE, KIM FOXX, CALLS JUSSIE SMOLLETT "WASHED, CELEB WHO LOVED CULPÉ" IN A TEXT MESSAGE
Last February, at the height of the investigation into Smollett's claim that he was a victim of a hate crime, the state attorney's office released a statement in which she indicated that Foxx had withdrawn from his investigation "out of caution" because Foxx had discussed the case. with a member of the Smollett family. "Shortly after the incident, at the end of January, state attorney general, Foxx, met with a family member of Jussie Smollett at about the incident and their concerns, and facilitated the connection with the Chicago Police Department who was investigating the incident, "said the office. Lily.
In interviews with the media, Foxx revealed that it was Perry who had advised her to recuse herself and presented her as the first office ethics officer. However, his office later had to specify that Foxx only recused himself in a "familiar" sense – not what was considered the standard legal challenge that would involve his entire office and the appointment of a special prosecutor.
On March 8, it became public that Smollett was charged with 16 counts of allegedly lied to the police about an organized assault on himself earlier this year – after discussing the move with Perry.
Foxx respected the decisions of his office. She invited the Cook County Inspector General's Office to investigate the case, and the GI confirmed to Fox News that this was the case.
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President Trump said last month that he had asked for a federal review of Foxx's decisions.
Rotert, meanwhile, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the Smollett controversy "had absolutely nothing to do with my decision."
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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