A few more things about Smollett
There are many reasons prosecutors might drop a case (or decline to go to trial), but as the Illinois prosecutors’ statement made clear, the Smollett case does not partake of the usual reasons and it was not handled in the usual way.
The case was not weak. The perp was not even forced to accept or admit any kind of guilt whatsoever. There was no probation. The community service was a joke. None of the ordinary procedures for settling rather than prosecuting were followed.
We can speculate on the reasons for this, but the leading one is that due to pressure the fix (not the Foxx) was in. One thing that seems crystal clear is that there was nothing weak about the case. Even Kim Foxx admitted as much [emphasis added]:
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx on Wednesday defended her office’s decision to drop all charges against “Empire” star Jussie Smollett but said prosecutors had enough evidence to convict the actor of faking a hate-crime attack on himself.
Foxx began a string of interviews with local media, as Smollett’s lawyers took to the airwaves to declare Smollett’s innocence following an unusual, hastily called hearing Tuesday at which prosecutors dropped 16 felony counts tied to the alleged hoax attack.
Foxx said that the deal, which essentially wipes Smollett’s record clear, was not a sign that the prosecution case was weak or that Smollett was innocent, and said similar low-level felony defendants are cut the same breaks.
“The notion that this somehow exonerates him or that the prosecutors somehow believed he was innocent is very frustrating to [my] idea of alternative prosecution,” a hoarse-voiced Foxx said late Wednesday in an interview with The Chicago Sun-Times. “But I understand that [Smollett’s lawyers] have a client, and they have a spin.”
Foxx, who recused herself from the case just over a week before Smollett was charged because of conversations she’d had with a relative of the actor, pointed to the $10,000 bond that Smollett turned over to the city of Chicago, a sum equivalent to the maximum fine for the disorderly conduct charges he faced. The prosecutor, who took office in 2016 after campaigning on a reform platform, said she believed the evidence against Smollett would have convinced a judge or jury to find him guilty.
“I believe based on the information that was presented before the grand jury, based on what I’ve seen, the office had a strong case … that would have convinced a trier of fact,” she said.
But the way it was handled allows the shameless self-promotor Jussie Smollett to proclaim his innocence and to make further accusations against the Chicago police.
Then there’s the question—and it’s a more general one that isn’t just about the Smollett case—of using the testimony of one (or more) of the alleged perpetrators against another of the alleged perpetrators, and/or the use of jailhouse snitches. Those practices are commonplace and always somewhat suspect, but that’s what a trial is about. In general, my rule of thumb is that if the snitch’s statement are unsupported by any other evidence they are far more suspect than if they are. Criminal law would be paralyzed if such statements were not allowed, but a judge or jury looks at the entire picture, including the corroborating evidence.
In the Smollett case, there was plenty of it. There was also the absurdity of Smollet’s original fact situation as he described it, as well as his shifting story.
I haven’t seen any polls on what percentage of the public believes Smollett and what percentage thinks he’s guilty, but my sense is that very few people believe he’s innocent at this point.
He’s guilty.
His crime was “fixed” — friend of Obama & the Power Dems.
Injustice.
In spades.
NOT rule of law.
The obvious underlying explanation here, is that Trump is favored by the Gods.
First we all watch as a nasty report of a racist assault, instead turns into a Keystone Cops LOL hoax.
But wait! It gets better!
THEN the infamous Chicago/Illinois Machine crudely & transparently “fixes” the charges.
Are we disgusted? Sure. Is this an adversity for Trump? Au contraire mon capitaine!
The other day the black writer Zak Cheney-Rice posted a piece entitled “Jussie Smollett is Free; That’s Good, Whether He’s Guilty or Not.” Many of the commenters, even at leftist New York Magazine, were having none of it.
No objective judge could honestly have sealed the case records. The discouraging thing is that the corruption encompasses and pervades all aspects of our country, including the judiciary at all levels.
As I mentioned earlier on the other thread I think the telling part is right after your highlighted portion about similar low level felony defendants getting the same breaks. I mean why should this black, gay, super woke, politically connected celebrity be treated more harshly than some homeless guy.
This is the ultimate push back to the ‘broken windows’ policy of a couple decades ago. There are people on the streets of major cities with 40, 50, 60 arrests in the last five years and it’s because of prosecutors like this.
This happens daily in cities all over the place. Only these sex offenders and addicts don’t blame Trump.
To sum up my point Smollett is not getting special treatment he is getting the same treatment as many, many others.
We just don’t hear about them.
Just another case that shoves public belief and faith in our supposed “justice” system even further down the throat of the crapper.
Given all that we have learned over the last couple of years about the DOJ/FBI/Intelligence Agencies/State Department soft coup attempt against candidate and then President Trump and, on the other hand, how Hillary and Bill have “gotten away with murder,” and–over and over again–been given a pass for each and every one of their on the face of it very questionable and/or criminal activities.
After the FBI’s extraordinarily high firepower, over the top pre-dawn raids on Stone and Manafort, and elderly Manafort–a non-violent, white collar criminal at best–being thrown in solitary—obviously to squeeze him to “flip” on Trump, after Gen. Flynn was set up in a perjury trap and his son reportedly threatened with prosecution to extract a “confession” from Flynn, after them and all of the other players (and their families)—George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Michael Caputo, and others—have been bankrupted by legal bills, threatened and harassed, it seems to me that—if you’re paying attention—your faith in our “justice” system has to be approaching rock bottom, if not, by now, subterranean.
j e:
I wouldn’t even mind him being free if he’d had to (a) admit guilt (b) pay large fines, not small ones (3) do meaningful community service (4) be on several years of probation.
I would like to know more about his connection to Kamala Harris and her anti-lynching bill. I hope it comes out and ruins her candidacy. We all know that lynching is such a big problem in America today that the victims have to write out checks for the ropes.
Heck, I’d settle for Jussie’s just having to admit his guilt at this point. What a travesty. But then it is Illinois. Just found an article on public corruption in that state that starts like this:
My question is whether Foxx can be disbarred for what she did. I haven’t seen anything about that. The Prosecutors Bar Association does not appear to be an attorney regulatory entity. In Illinois, that is the responsibility of the Attorney Regulation and Disciplinary Commission.
Nothing will happen to Foxx just like nothing will happen to Smollett. In fact they will both benefit from this because of much higher profiles.
“a judge or jury looks at the entire picture, including the corroborating evidence.” – Neo
Indeed.
We talk a lot about defendants having a right to “their day in court” in order to dispute the charges against them.
The public also has a right to a day in court.
Nothing will happen to Foxx just like nothing will happen to Smollett. In fact they will both benefit from this because of much higher profiles.
Griffin: I get your cynicism. But I think the yang has flipped to yin. Stuff works until it doesn’t. And I think the Democrat playbook has stopped working — Trump won in 2016, the Kavanaugh attacks failed and so forth.
I don’t expect Foxx and Smollett to be frog-marched to jail, but they will pay an unpleasant price. Partly because neither seems very smart about what they are up to.
I’ve made my call. We’ll see.
I think that Smolett will indeed pay a price – down the line. Roger Simon speculated that he will become another O.J.Simpson – a pariah outside his own personal circle.
I elaborated on that – at Chicagoboyz.
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/59501.html
Until this kerfuffle, I had never heard of Jussie Smollett nor the show “Empire”.
I would be very happy to return to that blissful state.
Chris Rock at the NAACP Image Awards ceremony and Saturday Night Live recently poked fun at Jussie. Given the reluctance of current comedians to lampoon anyone who is not a “deplorable,” one infers that even in the “woke” community, Jussie Smollett has little credibility. Jussie Smollett is headed towards the pariah condition that Sgt. Mom predicts.
Jussie and Olivia Jade join the crew team at Hollywood High.
Jussie is still in jeopardy from the hate mail / crushed tylenol letter. If that was the first hoax, and I bet it was, the feds will unravel it and Jussie is on the line for a terrorism charge.
I don’t think Tina Tchen, basically a consigliere for the Obamas, can fix that, though there may be enough Obama holdovers in the FBI and Deep State to do the trick.
But if it comes out Jussie mailed that letter, that’s all she wrote.
Is there? I don’t see it listed here. I just see prosecutors saying their case was strong, which is what it seemed to be at first
I don’t see it listed here.
The security camera tape and the check he sent to the perps. This isn’t that difficult.
Manju:
Sure, I’ll write a legal brief for you. In my spare time.
Or, perhaps you can do your own research.
But here’s a start, from what is probably one of your favorite sources, the NY Times:
The check was for training, according to Jussie. But the brothers’ usual fee for that was quite low, 20 to 50 dollars an hour. So that check would have been for something between 70 and 175 hours of training, so the check itself is highly suspicious evidence that tends to corroborate the brothers’ story. There are also cell phone and text messages that are said to have been suspicious in timing. The weather also made his story hard to believe, and in particular the idea that he mistook two black men—men that he knew quite well—for 2 white men he didn’t know is also pretty absurd on the face of it (literally). Remember, he originally described them as white.
The grand jury found enough evidence to indict him on 16 counts. Obviously, we have not seen all the evidence. That’s actually what a trial is for. Perhaps he would have been acquitted, but clearly the evidence was quite persuasive.
When they ended the case, the prosecutors initially made it very clear that the evidence was strong and that weak evidence was not the reason. Then, after they realized how outraged people got at that, they started saying it wasn’t so very strong after all. The whole thing is an absurdity.
Jussie’s story made no sense. The cold. His description of the attackers (listen to this starting around 1:34 and going to around 4:20). They yelled stuff at him, he says. so he definitely heard the voice of at least one and perhaps both. Here’s a video one of the brothers made in which you can hear him speak. It’s hard to believe that Jussie would not have recognized his voice, his body-builder body, and his walk, and it’s almost impossible to believe Smollett would have thought from his voice that he was actually a white MAGA-shouting anti-black bigot.
In addition, Jussie said they wore masks, but he indicates in his video he could see the bridge of the man’s nose. And yet Jussie’s lawyer now says maybe they were wearing whiteface, one of the most bizarre statements of all, although his lawyer’s assertion certainly isn’t what you’d call evidence.
This is another curious statement from Jussie:
Some more here:
This case does not depend on the uncorroborated word of the brothers.
R.e. neo (and Ann, and all other interested parties):
“I wouldn’t even mind him being free if he’d had to (a) admit guilt (b) pay large fines, not small ones (3) do meaningful community service (4) be on several years of probation.”
I never thought Smollett would see jail. I did want to see him convicted though. Now that the state attorney has dropped the charges and let this freak walk, free to say he’s entirely innocent, I want to see him imprisoned. And there is still a chance for that. He did send a threat letter to himself with a white powder that turned out be ground up aspirin. That’s a federal crime. Ms. Foxx can’t fix that.
As of February 19th the FBI and US Postal Inspection Service had the letter and it was at a crime lab. I didn’t really care much earlier. Now I care.