TV musical drama’s gay actor, Jussie Smollett is still not out of danger after charges against him were dropped. A Chicago attorney has called for a special prosecutor to investigate whether Jussie Smollett should be re-charged with staging an attack on himself and if the city’s top prosecutor interfered with the case.
Saani Mohammed filed a petition asking for the investigation into Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx’s actions over the decision to drop the 16 felony charges against the Empire actor.
According to court documents, Mohammed, who until recently worked in Foxx’s office, wrote that a prosecutor should investigate if Foxx ‘acted to impede the investigation… concealed evidence, and/or intentionally misled the public’.
Foxx also improperly ‘used her position to intervene in the investigation’, after meeting with one of Smollett’s relatives before the charges were dropped, the filing states, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Chicago police union chiefs have also demanded the resignation of Foxx over her office’s handling of the case. Police chiefs associations announced they passed a ‘no confidence’ vote against Foxx during a joint news conference yesterday afternoon.
Kevin Graham, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the vote was about more than just the Smollett case. He reportedly said the decision was just one of many issues undermining their trust in Foxx and Chicago’s criminal justice system.
The announcement came as the city confirmed Chicago will sue Smollett for the costs of police overtime spent investigating his claims that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack – which prosecutors say were false.
The lawsuit was being prepared after the 36-year-old Empire star refused a demand by the city for $130,000, said Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Law.
He said: ‘Mr. Smollett has refused to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019. ‘The Law Department is now drafting a civil complaint that will be filed in the Circuit Court of Cook Country.’