Smollett charges dropped

[Warriors4ever]

Tina Tchen is a former aide to Michelle Obama, not a current one, and there's been no connection to Michelle, who would have no reason to be involved. Heck, there are people trying to tie this to Kamela Harris and to Rahm's wife Amy.
Foxx is Preckwinkle's person -which is a problem for her with the mayoral race next week.

[The Sultan]

Good grief.  Soros and Obama conspiracies?  What's next QAnon's role in this??

Did you hear that Jussie's mom is actually...HILLARY???  It's true!!!

[Dish]

It's funny that Kim Foxx so badly has wanted to be a political star, she was (maybe still plans to) going to go after Durbin's seat after he retires, and now her political career is going to be over after this.

[warriorchick]

She's not wrong about MO, that already reported, lots of photos, etc.  Tribune has mentioned it several times as has the LA Times.  No idea if George part is true.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/27/jussie-smollett-investigation-ex-michelle-obama-aide-tina-tchen/3294546002/

Here's a story in the Washington Post from seven months ago.  This story says $300K, but there could have been more contributions after this article was written.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/05/down-ballot-liberal-reformers-take-over-criminal-justice-system/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6445901e803c

[NWarsh]

I'm not outraged that the charges were dropped, but I am outraged that because the charges were dropped he believes he has been vindicated, did nothing wrong, and is still a victim and did not lie about the whole episode. Unbelievable!

I see what you did here....

[Cheeks]

I see what you did here....

Not even close....no comparison at all.

[The Sultan]

Time for the legislative overreach.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=3824&GAID=15&GA=101&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=121016&SessionID=108

[StillAWarrior]

Time for the legislative overreach.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=3824&GAID=15&GA=101&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=121016&SessionID=108

Politics is broken.

[forgetful]

Are you speculating on this?  Or did you see this reported somewhere?

I slightly misstated what was reported.

The prosecution was trying to use the $3500 check as proof of payment to the individuals. They testified to the grand jury that money was because he hired them as trainers. They were still attesting they were hired, but had no proof, no payments. Everything paid for in loose cash etc.

There was then no paper trail, to corroborate the story. Based on the evidence I've seen reported, including the published police report, the best case scenario was looking like a hung jury.

All that said, I think he did hire them, but the physical proof was lacking. I think the decision to not prosecute was likely wise (would still like to see all the evidence first), but the way this was all handled was horrendously executed.

[StillAWarrior]

I slightly misstated what was reported.

The prosecution was trying to use the $3500 check as proof of payment to the individuals. They testified to the grand jury that money was because he hired them as trainers. They were still attesting they were hired, but had no proof, no payments. Everything paid for in loose cash etc.

There was then no paper trail, to corroborate the story. Based on the evidence I've seen reported, including the published police report, the best case scenario was looking like a hung jury.

All that said, I think he did hire them, but the physical proof was lacking. I think the decision to not prosecute was likely wise (would still like to see all the evidence first), but the way this was all handled was horrendously executed.

Thanks for the follow-up.  I thought you were suggesting that the brothers had recanted.  I never thought the check added much to the prosecution's case in light of the fact that everyone acknowledged that one or both of the brothers was Smollett's trainer.  That creates an obvious -- and quite possibly true -- alternate explanation for the check.  The check made for a great punchline, but I always thought it was of limited evidentiary value.  Based upon what I've read, I honestly cannot handicap how a jury would have viewed this.  I think that's premature and it's likely (and has been reported) that the public is only aware of a small part of the evidence they have in the case.  If this is true, I don't think that the prosecutors bailed out because they feared that they didn't have enough evidence to secure a conviction.  I think it's more likely that it was either because the prosecutor's failure to actually recuse herself created a problem for her office or because of political reasons.

[D'Lo Brown]

A couple of fun facts:

George Soros gave $400K to a Super Pac affiliated with Kim Foxx.  An aide of Michelle Obama has admitted that she reached out to Kim Foxx about the Smollett case on behalf of her boss.

It's the Chicago way.

Next we will hear about the gay mafia that is intimidating people and pulling strings, behind the scenes. Damn manipulative gays!

[mu03eng]

I'm just glad that white face is now a thing.

[Warriors4ever]

I doubt this would have ever gone to a jury trial. Deferred prosecution is not highly unusual, but the way this one was handled is unlike any other case I've ever seen.
This is the second time I've heard someone say that Foxx was interested in Durbin's seat. He hasn't said anything about retiring yet, and she would have been a long shot at best. Now? She's toast.

[Dish]

My prediction: If Lightfoot wins, Foxx will resign within a week or two after the election.

[Jockey]

A grand jury would indict a ham sandwich. That a grand jury indicted is is not a particularly damning fact.

+1000. Most people have no clue how a grand jury works.

[mu03eng]

My prediction: If Lightfoot wins, Foxx will resign within a week or two after the election.

Having long distanced myself from knowledge of Chicago/Illinois politics why this would be?

[Dish]

Having long distanced myself from knowledge of Chicago/Illinois politics why this would be?

Foxx is Preckwinkle's protege. If Preckwinkle wins (which seems unlikely), Toni may be able to find a way to provide Foxx with some type of political cover. Foxx is going to get smoked in any re-election bid for SA in 2020, I doubt she makes it out of the primaries. If Lightfoot wins, Foxx is going to be on a very lonely island in Illinois state politics. There's no way she can run for Durbin's seat if he retires, she didn't run for AG this past year. In Illinois, especially as a SA, if you have no friends and no cover, you are deader than dead politically. We'll see if Foxx realizes this very soon.

[Jockey]

A couple of fun facts:

George Soros gave $400K to a Super Pac affiliated with Kim Foxx.  An aide of Michelle Obama has admitted that she reached out to Kim Foxx about the Smollett case on behalf of her boss.

It's the Chicago way.

Funny thing. If I make any positive statement about Barrack on this board, the snowflakes melt down and I hear from the mods. Yet others are Allowed to attack those on the left with comments like these.

Interesting how that works.

My God, GEORGE SOROS IS EVIL. 

[Goose]

Jockey

Why do the mods contact you?

[jsglow]

Funny thing. If I make any positive statement about Barrack on this board, the snowflakes melt down and I hear from the mods. Yet others are Allowed to attack those on the left with comments like these.

Interesting how that works.

My God, GEORGE SOROS IS EVIL. 

Seriously?  Is there anything that's not factual in chick's statement?

I've PURPOSEFULLY not articulated the very plausible explanation for all of this that is widely circulating right now.  Go do your research.

[StillAWarrior]

Damn.

"The manner in which this case was dismissed was abnormal and unfamiliar to those who practice law in criminal courthouses across the State.  Prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges alike do not recognize the arrangement Mr. Smollett received.  Even more problematic, the State's Attorney and her representatives have fundamentally misled the public on the law and circumstances surrounding the dismissal.  The public has the right to know the truth, and we set out to do that here...This irregular arrangement was an affront to prosecutors across the State, the Chicago Police Department, victims of hate crimes, and the people of the City of Chicago and Cook County."

[Goose]

StillaWarrior

Damn. Thanks for sharing that.

[mu03eng]

Damn.

"The manner in which this case was dismissed was abnormal and unfamiliar to those who practice law in criminal courthouses across the State.  Prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges alike do not recognize the arrangement Mr. Smollett received.  Even more problematic, the State's Attorney and her representatives have fundamentally misled the public on the law and circumstances surrounding the dismissal.  The public has the right to know the truth, and we set out to do that here...This irregular arrangement was an affront to prosecutors across the State, the Chicago Police Department, victims of hate crimes, and the people of the City of Chicago and Cook County."

Whoa that seems like a forceful rebuttal, can't imagine that kind of thing happens a lot. Pleading a lot of ignorance here, but this all seems like an amazing boondoggle by Foxx and team, why in the hell would they do any of this? If this is a case of the Cook County SA is just that incompetent, I'd still think there has to be a motivation to do things this way....like I don't think you accidentally f'it up this bad.

[StillAWarrior]

Whoa that seems like a forceful rebuttal, can't imagine that kind of thing happens a lot. Pleading a lot of ignorance here, but this all seems like an amazing boondoggle by Foxx and team, why in the hell would they do any of this? If this is a case of the Cook County SA is just that incompetent, I'd still think there has to be a motivation to do things this way....like I don't think you accidentally f'it up this bad.

I'd be very curious to hear from someone who practices criminal law regarding the potential consequences of a prosecutor telling the world that she had recused herself, but not actually doing so.  It's become clear that Foxx's initial statements that she recused herself were misleading at best.  The statement yesterday that she had not recused herself in the "legal sense" but in the "colloquial sense" was hard to believe.  So, my question to those who know more about this kind of thing than I:  would that failure to have actually recused herself (and her office) have jeopardized the prosecution's case?  Is it possible that her office realized that they were totally screwed by the half-assed "recusal" and they decided to cut their losses early rather than moving forward with the prosecution and failing spectacularly due to the apparent conflict?  Honestly, aside from just being pure politics (which is certainly possible), this is the only thing that makes much sense to me given how things have developed.  I kind of think screwed up her case due to sheer incompetence when she failed to properly recuse herself (despite apparently realizing she needed to do so), and she was  foolish enough to hope that people wouldn't ask too many questions when she dismissed it.  I fully realize that I may be giving her too much credit by trying to think of an explanation based on incompetence rather than corruption.

[Cheeks]

I doubt this would have ever gone to a jury trial. Deferred prosecution is not highly unusual, but the way this one was handled is unlike any other case I've ever seen.
This is the second time I've heard someone say that Foxx was interested in Durbin's seat. He hasn't said anything about retiring yet, and she would have been a long shot at best. Now? She's toast.

But it is unusual for THIS type of crime, which is why Foxx was begging in the memo for examples to try and prop up this sham excuse.