Illinois prosecutors are mighty angry about the disposition of the Smollett case
The Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association has some words for Kim Foxx, her office, and you:
The Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association serves as the voice for nearly 1,000 front line prosecutors across the State who work tirelessly towards the pursuit of justice. The events of the past few days regarding the Cook County State’s Attorney’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case is not condoned by the IPBA, nor is it representative of the honest ethical work prosecutors provide to the citizens of the State of Illinois on a daily basis.
The manner in which this case was dismissed was abnormal and unfamiliar to those who practice law in criminal courthouses across the State. Prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges alike do not recognize the arrangement Mr. Smollett received. Even more problematic, the State’s Attorney and her representatives have fundamentally misled the public on the law and circumstances surrounding the dismissal.
When an elected State’s Attorney recuses herself from a prosecution, Illinois law provides that the court shall appoint a special prosecutor. See 55 ILCS 5/3-9008(a-15). Typically, the special prosecutor is a neighboring State’s Attorney, the Attorney General, or the State Appellate Prosecutor. Here, the State’s Attorney kept the case within her office and thus never actually recused herself as a matter of law.
Additionally, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office falsely informed the public that the uncontested sealing of the criminal court case was “mandatory” under Illinois law. This statement is not accurate…
The appearance of impropriety here is compounded by the fact that this case was not on the regularly scheduled court call, the public had no reasonable notice or opportunity to view these proceedings, and the dismissal was done abruptly at what has been called an “emergency” hearing…
Lastly, the State’s Attorney has claimed this arrangement is “available to all defendants” and “not a new or unusual practice.” There has even been an implication it was done in accordance with a statutory diversion program. These statements are plainly misleading and inaccurate. This action was highly unusual, not a statutory diversion program, and not in accordance with well accepted practices of State’s Attorney initiated diversionary programs….
They must think that the prosecution’s actions regarding Smollet make them all look crooked. It seems that the Smollett case has made everyone mad except Smollet himself, his family, and the spokespeople at “Empire.”
[Hat tip: commenter Bryan Lovely.]
Maybe if he had just kept his mouth shut and snuck off, the matter would have remained quiet. Instead, he seems to follow the Avenatti school of publicity and is now talking about suing the city and proclaiming his innocence.
When the fix is in, it’s best not to talk about it loudly,.
This will not go away, and it will have repercussions up the food chain far beyond what was anticipated by Foxx and the Obomatoids.
Jussie is nominated for an NAACP Image Award this weekend, and there seems to be little likelihood of any backlash in Hollywood, or among leftists and blacks, should he win.
It’s not every day that such a case of blatant corruption becomes public. This needs to be investigated all the way to the top.
j e:
Well, he gets an A for effort.
PJM has a head up saying that Rahm Emmanuel is now blaming Trump.
Mayor Rahm is back peddling, Trump’s election caused Jussie to commit the hoax. TDS is the culprit, orange man bad made him do it. The messiah must to whispered in dead fish’s ear.
make no mistake Emmanuel has been blaming Trump all along. In the first press conference relating to the case where Emmanuel appeared along side Eddie Johnson right after the announcement of Pussie’ charges being dropped he mentioned something inline of “when we have what is happening in Virginia someone equating bigots to those who fight bigotry” it was clearly a jab against the president funny How Don Jr didn’t catch that at all and foolishly tweeted he agreed with Emmanuel 100%.
Foxx dismissing the clear cut case against Jussie Smollet may have done more to undermine the “white privilege” hypothesis than any factually reasoned rebuttal has yet accomplished.
instead of blaming imaginary white privilege for all the problems and sufferings in the black community have they ever wondered may be the root of all their problems was them continuing to vote in corrupt and incompetent democrats to govern them.
I work in the New York courts, and you simply do not see resolutions like this in felony cases, not ever, and especially not with 16-count indictments. There’d have to be a guilty plea to SOMETHING and a formal sentence imposed and agreed to by a judge. As for diversion programs, getting into one requires making court appearances, meeting certain statutory standards and making admissions — and in New York, at least, I’d be surprised if any offender with 16 felony counts qualified for diversion. Misdemeanors and traffic tickets might get this kind of informal treatment. And I suppose a prosecutor might quietly decline to take a case to the grand jury in the first place — but they don’t just drop felony charges after a grand jury has issued an indictment like this one.
The trouble is that prosecutorial discretion is essentially unlimited. The prosecutor gets the final call. I don’t think there’s any legal way to penalize a prosecutor for deciding not to pursue a case. In New York, the governor has just approved the creation of a special commission to oversee the conduct of prosecutors — but that’s to prevent overzealous prosecutions based on false evidence and the like, not under-prosecuting. And even at that, it’s probable that the commission’s attempt to exert authority over prosecutors violates separation of powers provisions in the state constitution and will quickly be overturned in court.
But there could be ethical consequences from whatever body regulates the conduct of lawyers in Illinois — not for failing to prosecute, but for such things as the false statements to the public about recusal and the sealing of the case. As I read the statement, that may be what the IPBA is hoping to bring about.
And one more thing. The central principle of a diversion program is usually that charges are deferred, not dropped, until the defendant either successfully completes the diversion program — and the charges get dropped at that time — or flunks out, and faces the original charges after all. No diversion program simply drops the charges and lets the defendant walk without so much as an admission.
One of the issues that’s been discussed at length in regards to the Russia Investigation, is the “rat” conundrum. In this case, the “rats” are the brothers.
With Manafort it was Gates. This presented a problem for Meuller. Gates was a convicted liar, so how could you take his word? So Meuller, who had a lot of experience prosecuting mobsters, knew he had to collaborate Gates’ testimony…which he effectively did.
Could it be that the case here depended too much on the brothers? In order for their story to be accurate, they would have to be co-conspirators in the very crime they are “ratting” out Smollett for.
Perhaps the prosecutor realized she didn’t have enough collaboration to withstand the legal brain-power that Smollet could afford to bring to the table. I mean, he can presumably afford Alan Dershowitz like talent.
Gay black privilege…?
Manju,
Surely you’ve heard the phrase, “turning states evidence”? The mastermind of the crime was Smollett, the brothers were small fry.
Yeah Meuller had tons of experience investigating mobsters. Can you chew gum and say Whitey Bulger at the same time? Ignorance or cult zombie lack of brains is not away to go through life. But what can be said? You have swallowed the dogma and now you live by it. Not a knave, just another fool, running dog lackey. Make sure to keep the little red book close at hand. “If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao…”
Even Lennon, a not very bright pop icon, knew better. Sheesh.
Oh, and Jussie was going to hire Dershowitz? Egads, idiot E10. Manju, you, he she whatever are a sad bit of humanity. You are not on face value evil, but on face value you are dumber than a rock heaved up 3 billion years ago.
And Manju, tiring. A sane person can only expend so much calories responding to the likes of Manju. Many of us are wiser, better informed, and old enough to remember we have been here before when it comes to the likes of you. I wish you a change of mind and heart, but not betting it is possible. Still when the odds are 100 to 1, it is still possible. Start by reading Thomas Sowell.
parker, re Rahm back pedaling on Smollett – I’m thinking horse’s head.
As to the notion that the Nigerian brothers “framed” Smollett, … Seriously? They were captured on high res. security video buying the items used in the hoax, including at least one entered into evidence with the police. More importantly, the goof Smollett wrote them a personal check!
The National District Attorneys Association, wrote a letter excerpted by Fox News about the case, that’s hard hitting. It echoes Mrs. Whatsit.
If there is a recusal, then all of the subordinates in the dept. must be off-limits as well. There must not be contact between the state’s attorney and any friends and family of the accused. According to them, a “diversion program” begins with a complete allocution to all items of guilt by the accused.
_____
I mentioned before that maybe the FBI or postal inspector can prosecute a mail fraud crime or hate crime. But I worry that you can’t defraud yourself, and no specific person was victimized by a hate crime. So I suspect all these crimes are local or state.
I hope there are some kind of ethics charges against Foxx, otherwise I fear nothing of substance will happen.
“I hope there are some kind of ethics charges against Foxx”
In Chicago? Don’t hold your breath.
Mrs Whatsit: Thanks for an insider view. The Smollett decision “stinks on ice” as someone said. I am agog they could and would pull it off.
Marx spoke of “sharpening the contradictions” between labor and capital as a path to revolution. He had a point in terms of tactics, though the God of History failed to back the long-term strategy, e.g. the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, etc. Those contradictions between people’s well-being and Marxism are quite sharp today for those paying attention.
Chicago Democrats have sharpened the contradictions between the interests of elites and ordinary people. I think ordinary people notice, even without Marx’s help. It’s interesting that Democrats don’t notice or don’t care, though it’s right out of their own playbook.
I was wondering when Manju would pop back up through his whack-a-mole-hole.
Sure enough…must mean Spring’s close.
I profiled Foxx when the news broke, and I was correct.
My profiling is 90% reliable: If one sees a Toyota or other semi-disposable car going 60mph in the left Interstate lane with windows open and speed limit is 70, cars passing it on the right, it is always driven by a black. Always. Maybe the driver does not like his own or his passengers’ BO. The cars are always new enough to have functioning AC.
I suspect they are trolling for a soft rear-end collision from which to reap beaucoup plaintiff dollars.
Manju on March 29, 2019 at 8:45 pm at 8:45 pm said:
..So Meuller, who had a lot of experience prosecuting mobsters, knew he had to collaborate Gates’ testimony…which he effectively did.
…
Perhaps the prosecutor realized she didn’t have enough collaboration to withstand the legal brain-power that Smollet could afford to bring to the table.
* * *
It’s a small point, Manju, but the word you want is “corroborate” not “collaborate.”
Collaboration is what the FBI/CIA/DOJ did in pushing the Russia dossier.
Mueller found nothing to corroborate their fictions about Trump & collusion.
https://www.thoughtco.com/collaborate-and-corroborate-differences-1689738
On the other hand, since Mueller and his team were working with the same people who were framing Trump, collaboration might be the right word there.
And Foxx may have realized that the people pulling her strings wouldn’t look kindly on her bringing Jussie to trial, so maybe collaboration is the right word there as well.
It’s nuanced.
Well, Smollett’s treatment isn’t unusual. It’s the exact same treatment any other Clinton operative gets.
They’re untouchable as anyone who dares touch them ends up on the Clinton’s list of suicide victims (suicide through a rifle shot in the back of the head while piloting a crashing, burning, aircraft that is).
Well, that would implicate them more than Smollett…no?
Which he says was for personal training. So it’s Smollett’s word vs the admitted liars’ words. Does that pass the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard?
I have heard it. Neo has written very eloquently about how Mueller was squeezing witnesses to implicate Trump.
Trump has suggested that the practice should be outlawed.
But suddenly these concerns have disappeared. I wonder why?
For the record, i believe Smollett is the fraudster. I also do not think ratting should be outlawed.
But i do think that unless you are able to corroborate the rats, you should probably let the guilty go free.
Thanks AesopFan. Please except my apology.
There ain’t no sh!t sandwich Manju won’t eat (if served by MadCow).
Celebrities getting away with crimes is nothing new.
The problem here is Smollett is going to accept his NAACP Spirit Award this week to thunderous applause and he’s going to get up there and talk about how he survived his encounter with murderous Trump supporters and how he was able to live through the false accusations filed by the racist Chicago Police Department. He’s going to rub all of our faces in it and the history books will record his side of the story as fact.
They were afraid of a riot…
Similar fear is with Islam…
Quite the fear, from what ladies do too…
see a pattern…
Fear works, to a point and for a while…
each one has the counter force that eventually brings back in line
1) The current level of criminal pain exceeds the imaginative pain of the riot
2) One or the other side gives in and accepts their fate
3) Self extermination through lack of fecundity and mal-adaptation
Kind of interesting that #3 covers the other two, while it dies and is replaced by them and the laws, courts, and institutions turn and make similar claims made in the past.
Smollet is the “cause” that exposes the symptom of the disease
So they “will remove the cause, but not the symptom” – Frankfurter 🙂
Turning the people is like turning a huge great ship, the efforts of now, cant be seen for a long time before they have their effect, making a counter move once discovered impossible..
ask the captain of the Exxon Valdez…
There’s definitely another act or two in Smollett’s drama. It’s not over by a long shot.
Since Trump was elected, Democrats have been desperately flailing around for magic solutions to get their game rolling again — anything other than the hard work of persuading the electorate to their side. Hence RussiaGate, the Ford lies in the Kavanaugh hearing, #MeToo movement, abolishing the Electoral College, packing the Supreme Court and lately the Smollett fraud.
However, the net result has been revealing their own corruption and lies. This past week we’re even seeing the Southern Poverty Law Center unraveled by its own hypocrisy.
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
The police said there was a lot of evidence beyond the brothers’ testimony and the check. There would have to be for a conviction, which they seemed very sure of.
Manju, “Meuller[sp], who had a lot of experience prosecuting mobsters”. Riiight… Mueller, as US attorney, knowingly signed off on the false indictments and convictions for murder of four men. The actual murders were committed by FBI informants who were partners with Whitey Bulger, the mobster and serial killer. Can’t let a murder or two get in the way of an investigation, can we?
Why is there never an accounting for misbehavior by prosecutors?
In spite of the millions of words here and in other publications I’m going to assume not a thing will happen to Foxx or Smollett.
Richard Cook: Comey, McCabe, Strzok and Page lost their careers at the FBI — fired or resigned.
That’s what I call a good beginning. Maybe it doesn’t go any further, but at least their Deep State scalps are nailed to the wall.
These are the good old days for Foxx and Smollett. I believe they will pay a fuller price further down the line. Perhaps not as much as they deserve.
Manju on March 30, 2019 at 5:50 am at 5:50 am said:
For the record, i believe Smollett is the fraudster. I also do not think ratting should be outlawed.
But i do think that unless you are able to corroborate the rats, you should probably let the guilty go free.
* * *
That’s the purpose of having a trial, rather than allowing the DA’s office acting alone to decide AFTER** the Grand Jury indictment that there is no there there.
Kate on March 30, 2019 at 11:53 am at 11:53 am said:
The police said there was a lot of evidence beyond the brothers’ testimony and the check. There would have to be for a conviction, which they seemed very sure of.
* * *
We know from sad experience that trial-by-press is always less complete than trial-by-jury. Note that I do not say less correct: they are different concepts.
Sometimes the press gets it right when the jury does not; sometimes the other way around; sometimes they are both right, or wrong; sometimes we just can’t be sure either way BUT both American law & prudent civil governance declare that the JURY result is final*, where the press result is not.
The norms of law enforcement are also supposed to deal with accuracy and finality short of a trial, and Foxx’s actions put her office more on the side of the press than the courts.
There is a reason the Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association sent their letter.
*Caveat about appeals, but you can’t put too many parentheticals in a pithy statement.
Manju:
However [emphasis added]:
This type of thinking as far as not prosecuting low level crimes is a big reason for the massive problems with homeless criminals that have been decimating cities like Seattle and San Francisco.
A local Seattle TV station did an hour long report called ‘Seattle Is Dying’ which was really sad but not surprising to anybody living here.
I’m not saying this Smollet guy is going to commit a bunch more crimes but as the prosecutor Foxx stated ‘similar low level felony defendants are cut the same breaks’. How many of those offenders go on to create all kinds of problems. A lot I bet.
Manju:
I and plenty of other people have long been distrustful of jailhouse snitches who lie to get favors. Or of people accused of crimes (not process “crimes” like borderline lying to the FBI that isn’t even lying, but real crimes) who rat on the other perp in order to get off or to get a light sentence. One must take their testimony with a grain of salt, but not discredit it totally particularly when there is other evidence.
There apparently was plenty of corroborating evidence here, and most definitely, unequivocally, enough of it to go to trial under any normal circumstance.
That is a far cry—a far far far cry—from starting an inquiry and getting people on process crimes related only to that inquiry and that interrogation, and squeezing them for the purpose of getting them to rat on a president. The potential for abuse is extraordinarily high there and the target is not a criminal, it is the elected president of the US. That is a purely political act as well, because a president cannot be criminally tried while in office. He can only be impeached, which is a political act of the legislature.
What’s more, I haven’t seen a big push for the idea that Smollett should have been tried. Most people weren’t asking for that. They don’t think, however, he should have been essentially let off and not have to admit guilt. In particular this is galling because they apparently had an excellent case against him and his crime was actually a very serious one.
Artfldgr on March 30, 2019 at 11:00 am at 11:00 am said:
They were afraid of a riot…
* * *
In most situations involving black men and police, I would agree; but, in this one, the Smollettistas would NOT be supported by the police, there is NOT a united front in the upper echelons of government, and the Chicago press is NOT on Smollett’s side.
A brief follow-up to my reply to Manju above, about dismissing cases after indictment (and a few items contra the IPBA letter’s assertions).
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/jussie-smollett-case-charges-dropped-records-sealed-court/
Saturday, March 30, 2019
“It’s not unusual for prosecutors to spot critical flaws in a case after charges are filed — alibis emerge, witnesses turn out to be unreliable, investigations can be tainted — but Foxx and her deputies, not to mention the CPD, were adamant that was not the case.”
Small tangent into press reliability (cough), which came up while I was trying to corroborate a rumor that Rahm Emanuel had back-tracked on his remarks about the case. This shows the Google links to the top two search results, which are clearly the same story. It’s an AP release in both cases, published by an NBC affiliater 13WTHR in Indianapolis. The headlines are bolded; note the URLs are different.
The clips about Emanuel are different because the stories were almost entirely different in details and tone. Maybe they were written by different people at AP and they were pulled and published without reworking. Maybe there were 2 people at WTHR writing off the same AP report, 9 hours apart.
Support for two separate stories is given by the difference in URLs (unlike the example from Neo’s post a couple of days ago about the veto override, where she changed the headline but the URL stayed the same).
I just thought it was curious.
(The clips about Trump are not in either story; I don’t know why Google searches do that.)
https://www.google.com/search?q=emanuel+backtracks+smollett&oq=emanuel+backtracks+smollett&aqs=chrome..69i57.7241j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Smollett case tests relationship between police, prosecutors – National …
https://www.wthr.com/…/smollett-case-tests-relationship-between-police-prosecutors
3 hours ago – Futterman questioned Emanuel’s reaction to Smollett’s case, saying the mayor … Trump backtracks on call to gut $300M Great Lakes program.
Upsides, downsides for Smollett, city in looming fines fight – National …
https://www.wthr.com/article/upsides-downsides-smollett-city-looming-fines-fight
12 hours ago – Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has said the false claims by Smollett damaged the … Trump backtracks on call to gut $300M Great Lakes program.
He, and coconspirators in the press and politics, should have been charged with democratic corruption, negligence, and fraud, with a diversity enhancement. Alas, it’s a Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice world. Perhaps not. People are not so green. They’re struggling to flush this inconvenient hoax down the black “whore” (hat tip: NAACP)… hole, and it’s causing a backup that it is soiling one too many people’s reputations a la Clinton’s Water Closet. So, who will they sacrifice to assure a stable of sustainable pretenses?
@Griffin, @neo: the documentary about Seattle homelessness is here. It’s shocking, and I live in Seattle.
Mrs. Whatsit,
I too work in/with the NYS court system. And, while Illinois is not NYS, I can’t wrap my brain around the 16 felony indictments being resolved in the fashion done with Smollett. It boggles the mind.
Like you said, no diversion program lets a defendant just walk away with no formal admission. And then, in diversion programs (I’m thinking of something along the lines of Felony Treatment/Drug Court as an example) punishment is deferred pending success in the program.
Well, at least there is this.
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2019/03/30/jussie-smollett-loses-naacp-image-award/amp/
I’ve been looking for some pundit to mention something about back-stage relationships so I could tee off of it, but so far no one has (anyone here seen something?) — so here is my question.
Emanuel was Obama’s Chief of Staff for 2 years; I don’t think they were particularly chummy, but they didn’t have a toxic split when Rahm left to become mayor.
Tina Tchen, the fixer, was Michelle’s former top aide.
Did Barack know that his wife’s minions were going to blind-side his former staffer, or did she do it on her own?
What are the ramifications of either situation?
Answer to my own question from PowerLine Week in Pictures?
https://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-03-26-at-3.45.43-PM.png?w=1100&ssl=1
Smollett trumps Emanuel for both Obamas, I suppose.
I guess it is such a commonplace that we don’t even remark on it, but isn’t it obvious that the majority of criminals, from petty thieves to bank robbers to mass murderers, are Democrats?