Kim
Foxx decries “a kangaroo prosecution” of Jussie Smollett as one of her staff
members begs co-workers to “please stay and fight”
March 11, 2022 CWBChicago Citywide
More than three years after Jussie Smollett’s
phony hate crime saga began on a frigid Streeterville street corner, Cook
County Judge James Linn sentenced the fallen star to 150 days in jail and 30
months probation Thursday. Smollett was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine and
reimburse the city for $120,106 of police overtime dedicated to investigating
his bogus claims.
Before sentencing, Linn said Smollett “committed
hour upon hour upon hour of pure perjury” on the witness stand.
Writing in the Sun-Times Thursday evening, Cook
County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, whose bungling of the case cast such a dark
shadow that a judge found only a special prosecutor could restore the public’s
faith in the county’s justice system, called Smollett’s trial “a kangaroo
prosecution.”
She also said it was “costly,” even though the
special prosecutor’s investigation and the prosecution itself were handled pro
bono by the Winston & Strawn law firm.
Lately, Foxx seems almost as deep in denial as
Smollett himself. In anticipation of the verdict, Foxx last week told reporters
that the special prosecutor investigation “started with the proposition that
perhaps that I had done something, and the summation was that I hadn’t.”
In fact, the investigation found, among other things, Foxx and her top
aides treated Smollett favorably like no other defendant, they lied to the
public about it, and Foxx herself lied about cutting off communications with
Smollett’s family when, in fact, she had not. That was just the beginning.
The transgressions were so serious, special
prosecutor Dan Webb referred his findings about Foxx and her aides to state
regulators.
Officially, Foxx’s office said Thursday it will
“continue to prioritize violent crime.”
That will be small consolation to the dozens of
people it has charged with filing false reports over the past three years who
have not received a “Smollett Deal.”
People like Jim Van Buskirk, who lost his job, his
reputation, and his life savings when prosecutors accused him of falsely
claiming that he had been tied up and robbed by a gunman at a Union Station
restaurant he managed.
Foxx’s office prosecuted him to the fullest — no
sweetheart deal. They took the case to trial. And they lost. Jim Van Buskirk is
an innocent man.
It’s notable that Foxx’s office, the one that
says it prioritizes violent crime, is still pursuing felony charges against a
man almost three years after he allegedly spray-painted graffiti on The Bean sculpture. Another
man who reportedly did it with him finally pleaded guilty in September after
fighting felony charges for 2½ years. He received a one-year prison sentence in
a plea deal with the office that “prioritizes violent crime.”
‘There are still some real prosecutors in Cook
County’
After Foxx’s letter appeared in the Sun-Times,
we received a letter, too. It came from an assistant state’s attorney (ASA) in
Foxx’s office who has been in touch with us from time to time over the years.
They asked if we would share their thoughts of the day. We will:
There are still
some real prosecutors in Cook County. It is true that every day more resign. It
is true that every night there are more text chains of depressed, hopeless and
angry prosecutors who seem to be more embarrassed by the day at the state of this
office. But some of us are still here.
It’s lazy and
cliché to blame the state of things on COVID or outside influence. The reason
why the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, once held in high regard
nationwide as the most fierce, dedicated and hell-bent-on-justice prosecutor’s
office in the country, now is a laughing stock is because of how terribly off
the rails the train of reform has gone.
There is not a
single real prosecutor that would argue small time retail theft is a big deal.
There is not a single one that would argue drug possession should result in
penitentiary time. There is not a single one that would argue that the efforts
of the rehabilitation and diversion courts are not both successful, money
saving and life changing for those that can get enrolled. There are still some
real prosecutors in Cook County, and we agree with rehabilitation.
But the premise
this office has put forth of shifting resources from those minor cases to focus
on violent crime and public safety is nothing short of a lie and fraud
perpetrated on the citizens of Cook County.
While relaxed
prosecutions of minor offenses has increased, there have been zero efforts to
direct that to violent crime. The complex homicide unit which by title would be
the foremost unit going after violent crime, has decreased in size since Kim
Foxx took office. It hasn’t doubled, tripled or quadrupled utilizing all the
resources saved from ignoring petty crime. It has decreased.
The much publicized
“gun strategies unit” is a miniscule unit generally regarded as a unit staffed
with ASA’s who are not the best, brightest and hard-working and a unit that
does little to actually help the cause. Why?
There are still
some real prosecutors in Cook County, but they are not being deployed to fight
violent crime as the administration wants you to believe.
With the hurricane
of resignations in the past year the office is now staffed by inexperienced
supervisors, first chairs (responsible for murder prosecutions) who have never
even handled a murder case, and endless numbers of ASA’s promoted without
knowledge or experience to do the job, but nonetheless thrust into the position
because of attrition. Some will be great. Many will not.
In the past few
years being a Cook County prosecutor has gone from being a source of pride to
being one of embarrassment. A repetitive depressing cycle of doing the job,
keeping your job and all the while trying to let everyone who is truly invested
in prosecuting crime know that you aren’t “one of them.” There are still some
real prosecutors in Cook County, but we are embarrassed.
The administration
cannot find a single person to accept the job of the Chief of Criminal
Prosecutions. The reason is because every single real prosecutor watched as one
of us, Natosha Toller, an African-American woman who was a real prosecutor
fighting for justice, was beaten down to the point she could take it no longer
and had to leave. There is not a single real prosecutor who saw Natosha go and
now would ever consider taking that position. In fact, to this day everyone who
has been approached to consider taking that spot has declined.
There are still
some real prosecutors in Cook County…but it’s not easy. To the police officers
that risk their lives every shift for a thankless job where nothing you ever do
will be seen as right by some….we respect you and you know who the real
prosecutors are.
To the victims of
crime in Cook County….we know that when your case is the one of 400 cases
pending in a courtroom at 26th Street that at some times it may feel like no
one cares. But when there are real prosecutors in that room you know it. And
they will be fighting for you.
But most of all to
the real prosecutors of Cook County…we will get through this. There have been
dark times in past administrations. While this dark period may be different in
its execution, it’s not the first time and won’t be the last time when the
front lines despise the administration.
I know that every
one of you is looking at jobs in DuPage, Lake, Will, the Attorney General, etc.
While these are dark days please remember that we don’t work for the name on
the front of the office at 69 W Washington. We work for a bigger purpose of
justice.
The administration
tries to tell us we are racist. We are insensitive. We are not empathetic. They
do that from their 32nd floor downtown office while we are at 26th Street in
the trenches giving the drug offender his 5th chance at probation, the
18-year-old kid from a rough neighborhood who has never been in trouble First
Gun Offender Probation so he can stay in college, and while we work endless
hours so that the indigent minority mother who lost her son to gun violence can
hug us and cry on our shoulder thanking us after getting justice for her child.
That is why we are still here.
There are still some real prosecutors in Cook County. And
there are victims and hard-working police officers that need us to be there for
them now more than ever. We will get through this. Please stay and fight until
you can fight no more.