A judge has ruled that Jussie Smollett’s lawyers will not be permitted to summon Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx as a witness in their case.
Jussie Smollett is defending himself against accusations that he orchestrated a racist and homophobic attack on himself in January 2019. Smollett was charged with 16 felony charges after the purported attack, including one for allegedly submitting a fake police report.
Following the widely-reported incident, prosecutor Dan Webb was appointed to re-investigate the case, after criminal charges for disorderly conduct connected to the alleged fake police report were withdrawn, which saw an additional six felony counts filed in February 2020.
Webb discovered that Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx and her team fabricated misleading claims at the time the charges were dropped, which didn’t rely on new evidence and “surprised” or “shocked” state’s attorney’s office lawyers.
Webb also concluded that Foxx’s office “breached its obligations of honesty and transparency” for submitting unfounded and misleading public statements about Foxx’s resignation from the investigation, as well as the nature of Foxx’s interactions with Smollett’s sister, actress Jurnee.
He went on to add that Foxx and her team had shown probable ethical breaches in their handling of the investigation, although he failed in finding any evidence of wrongdoing in Foxx’s actions.
The defense team for Jussie Smollett had planned to summon Foxx as a witness during the trial, but Judge James Linn of Cook County denied their request on Thursday and also also declared that the lawyers could not allude to the actor’s prior cases.
Smollett’s lawyers will, however, be able to tell jurors about the AR-15 rifle and other firearms found in the home of two brothers whom authorities believe the ‘Empire’ star paid to carry out the assault on him.
The trial date has yet to be determined.
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