The prosecution of Jussie Smollett — a small-time felony case that has grown only more bizarre seemingly with each passing week — may have taken its strangest twist yet on Friday.
In a blistering and somewhat unexpected ruling, a veteran Cook County judge ordered a special prosecutor appointed to re-investigate the circumstances of the onetime “Empire” actor’s alleged hoax attack on a frigid January night in downtown Chicago.
In doing so, Judge Michael Toomin blasted State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s handling of the prosecution, saying her botched decision to appoint her top deputy to prosecute Smollett after recusing herself invalidated the case from start to finish.
The rare move to appoint a special prosecutor marks the first step in what promises to be a full-blown probe of how Foxx’s office made the controversial decision to drop the disorderly conduct charges against Smollett just weeks after he was indicted.
The investigation will surely keep the Smollett case in the national headlines for months and could cast a cloud over Foxx’s bid for re-election next year.
It also raised the specter that Smollett could be charged all over again for what Chicago police determined to be a staged attack he orchestrated on himself because of dissatisfaction over his pay on the Fox series.
For the full story, visit ChicagoTribune.com/News/Criminal-Justice.
