Source: Splash News / Splash News
Kim Foxx Subpoenaed For Hearing Over Jussie Smollett Case
Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx is still facing some major heat after her offices dropped all charges against Jussie Smollett in his alleged hate crime case.
According to The Chicago Sun-Times, Foxx has been subpoenaed to appear at a hearing over the handing of Smollett’s case. She was hit with the subpoena by a retired Judge Sheila O’Brien, who’s pushing for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate how Foxx handled everything.
O’Brien also subpoenaed Foxx’s top deputy Joseph Magats, and filed a document asking that Smollett appear at the hearing.
Smollett told Chicago police that in January, two white guys called him racist and homophobic slurs, then they poured bleach on him and put a noose around his neck. After weeks of investigation, officers accused Jussie of staging the hate crime and he was hit with 16 felony disorderly conduct charges. However, in a surprise March hearing, all charges against Jussie were dropped.
O’Brien is saying Foxx’s handling of the case was “plagued with irregularity.”
“Foxx’s conflict in this matter is beyond dispute,” O’Brien wrote, adding that Foxx should have aimed for the appointment of a special prosecutor. “Instead, Foxx misled the public into believing that Smollett’s case was handled like any other prosecution and without influence.”
Text messages and emails turned over to the Sun-Times, in response to a records request, showed that weeks before Smollett was charged or the Empire actor was considered by cops to be a crime victim, Foxx had talked to Chicago lawyer Tina Tchen, who put her in touch with one of Smollett’s relatives. Foxx also acknowledged that she urged CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson to turn the investigation over to the FBI.
Since the case was dropped, three people from Foxx’s team, including her chief ethics officer and chief spokesman, have left the office, according to Page Six.