Some day, somebody should write a book about what happened in post-Rahm Chicago after the city came under the leadership of three Black women, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, County Board Pres. Toni Preckwinkle, and State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, and the white backlash that followed. But I’ll leave that one to somebody more capable than I am. Central to the story would have to be the Jussie Smollett trial.
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If it wasn’t obvious before, the release of Dan Webb’s 60-page report on the Smollett case should make it abundantly clear that the most expensive disturbing-the-peace trial in American history was less about Smollett, than it was a political hit job on Foxx.
According to Webb’s report, the progressive Foxx and her top deputies made some procedural and ethical missteps in handling the Smollett case, something admitted to by Foxx herself. But the report found no evidence of criminal conduct or influence peddling behind the controversial non-prosecution deal extended to the actor just weeks after his arrest.
According to the Sun-Times:
The more than 60 pages summarizing interviews with current and former state’s attorney’s staff members and 100,000 pages of documents, Webb also offered little to explain how such a high-profile case nearly ended with the star getting off with an unprecedentedly light slap on the wrist.
It’s hard to even imagine why such a small, local case would evoke such a ponderous report let alone national and international headlines for the past two years. And why it was even made public is still a mystery since there’s little of substance in it. A hearing before Judge Michael Toomin marked the third time Webb sought to make the full report public. Toomin more than a year ago opted to leave it under seal.
Unless of course, it was only meant to offer Foxx’s next white law-and-order political opponent a few juicy campaign sound bites. But her last challenger, Republican Patrick O'Brien, had plenty of those along with tons of family money and still lost the election to Foxx, Cook County’s first and only Black female top prosecutor, who has maintained strong support from Chicago’s Black community.
Smollett’s conviction for a non-violent first offense will likely see him sentenced to probation and community service. I’m not sure, but I think the U.S. is the only country where community service is seen as a punishment.
That is even if the case holds up in the higher courts after appeals. Smollett’s appeal could take years and millions more taxpayer dollars before it is finally settled.
Smollett’s attorney Unye Uche asked,
“Why was so much money and resources spent re-prosecuting this case when we have thousands and thousands of people dying, hundreds of people dying in Chicago from gun violence?”
Damn good question. But the answer should be obvious.
Webb was called in as a hired gun after Foxx became the target of white supremacist backlash conjured up by the F.O.P. and Donald Trump himself. It was Trump who put the local case in the national spotlight during his 2019 election campaign. Using crime in Chicago as a racist dog whistle, Trump said he would call in the FBI and that the case marked the first time he could remember agreeing with the city's mayor, Rahm Emanuel, who has been blasting prosecutors for dropping the charges against Smollett.
Trump on the stump in 2019…
“I think the case in Chicago is an absolute embarrassment to our country and I have asked that it be – that they look at it,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn as he left for a political rally. “Somebody has to at least take a very good hard look.”
As far as embarrassments to our country go, I would put Trump’s election in 2016 at the top of the list.
Webb, a Republican and the top gun at Winston & Strawn, was brought in to prosecute the case after Foxx’s team decided it wasn’t worth the taxpayers’ time and money. Webb had gained fame and fortune with a career built on defending powerful corporate interests and polluters like Microsoft and GE. He was one of the lawyers representing Philip Morris last year when a Florida jury ordered the tobacco industry to pay $144.8 billion to sick smokers.
Webb got his conviction and scads of publicity. Last week he was even selected as Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer. But the release of Webb’s report did nothing but reveal once again that the prosecution of Jussie Smollett was little more than an expensive, sensationalized, poltically-driven, farce.
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