A former Illinois appellate judge is pushing for a special prosecutor to ask Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx a series of questions about her motives in the Jussie Smollett case.
It was Foxx’s office which controversially dropped all 16 felony disorderly conduct charges against Smollett. It happened after it had been alleged that the Empire actor staged a hate crime and falsely reported it to the police. Smollett had claimed that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack perpetrated by two suspects using slurs and declaring “this is MAGA country.”
The Chicago Police Department tracked down persons of interest revealed to be the Osundairo brothers. Abel and Ola told police that the attack was staged. A judge is reportedly ready to decide whether to appoint a special prosecutor to review Foxx for her handling of the case.
An apparent roadblock was that Judge LeRoy Martin Jr. had yet to decide whether to recuse himself.
The former appellate judge who petitioned for the special prosecutor has been identified as Sheila O’Brien. She asked for Martin Jr. to recuse because his son is one of Foxx’s assistant state’s attorneys, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Martin has transferred O’Brien’s petition to another judge.
Now to some of the questions O’Brien wants asked. What were your motives when: you “recused” yourself from the Smollett case but “still communicated with your staff” about it; you communicated with one of Smollett’s family members; your office dropped the 16 felony charges against Smollett.
One final question asked: why are you “fighting so hard to keep Judge Martin, when there are hundreds of judges in Cook County and around the state who do not have a son hired by you/your administration and are not working for you.”
[Image via Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images]
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