Kim Foxx ordered to appear in COURT over the Jussie scandal: Judge slaps prosecutor with a subpoena over her handling of the Smollett case after she dropped all 16 charges against the Empire actor
- Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has been subpoenaed to appear in court for a hearing on how she handled Empire actor Jussie Smollett's criminal case
- She was subpoenaed by retired appellate judge Sheila O'Brien
- O'Brien also subpoenaed Foxx's top deputy Joseph Magats and requested Smollett appear at the hearing
- O'Brien says Foxx's handling of the case was 'plagued with irregularity'
- She also asks Foxx and Magats produce all the original documents used in case
- Foxx and her office faced scrutiny after they dropped the 16 felony disorderly conduct charges against Smollett on March 26
Chicago's top prosecutor Kim Foxx has been subpoenaed to appear in court for a hearing over her handling of Empire actor Jussie Smollet's high profile case.
Retired appellate judge Sheila O'Brien subpoenaed Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx along with her top deputy Joseph Magats and in a separate document requested that Smollett also appear at the hearing.
Foxx came under fire in March when her office announced it was dropping charges against Smollett who faced 16 felony disorderly conduct charges for allegedly filing a false police report.
Smollett, who is black and gay, is accused of staging a racist and anti-gay attack on himself in downtown Chicago in January.
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Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx (right) has been subpoenaed to appear in court for a hearing on how she handled Empire actor Jussie Smollett's criminal case by retired appellate judge Sheila O'Brien (left)
O'Brien is pushing for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Foxx's handling of Empire Actor Jussie Smollett's case
O'Brien is pushing for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Foxx's handling of the controversial case.
She says that Foxx's handling of the case was 'plagued with irregularity'.
O'Brien requested that Foxx, Magats, and Smollett produce the original documents used in Smollett's criminal case to 'assure' the public 'that they have not been altered or destroyed and will not be destroyed throughout this case', according to court documents as per the Chicago Sun-Times.
'Foxx’s conflict in this matter is beyond dispute,' O'Brien wrote in the court documents, saying Foxx should have sought the appointment of a special prosecutor.
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'Instead, Foxx misled the public into believing that Smollett’s case was handled like any other prosecution and without influence,' she added.
O'Brien subpoenaed Foxx along with her top deputy Joseph Magats (above) and in a separate document requested that Smollett also appear at the hearing
Foxx's office is also undergoing an independent inspector-general investigation on how she handled the case.
Since the scandal, three members of Foxx's team - including her chief ethics officer and chief spokesman - have left the office.
Foxx says she defends the decision to drop Smollett's charges and welcomes an independent investigation.
In the Smollett case, Foxx recused herself after it emerged she exchanged text messages with a member of his family in the days after the incident.
She then elected First Assistant State's Attorney Joe Magats to serve as Acting State's Attorney for the case.
Weeks later the 16 grand jury charges against Smollett were suddenly dropped.
Emails and texts have been released showing Foxx meddled in the case after she recused herself, including by sending texts to Magats to lower the charges against Smollett.
In the alleged attack on January 29, Smollett claimed that two masked men attacked him, threw a noose around his neck, and called him racist and homophobic slurs.
Kim Foxx sent these text messages to her deputy on March 8 after a grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 counts of lying to police. She had already 'recused' herself for speaking to Smollett's family but continued to interfere in the case by telling her deputies that the charges were excessive. The charges were dropped two weeks later
Smollett's lawyer said there was no doubt that the brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo attacked him, but no other motive than that Smollett asked them to has emerged
But on February 15, unconfirmed reports emerged suggesting the actor might have staged the attack to save his job with help from two Nigerian brothers that he reportedly knew as extras on Empire.
Investigators said they believe Smollett may have paid Abimbola 'Abel' and Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo $3,500 to assault him in the orchestrated attack.
Smollett was written out of the final two episodes of Empire this season after he was charged with staging the hate crime.
Fox executives have not said if he will return should the show be renewed for another year.
