Report details ‘failure’ in handling of 1st Smollett case

By SARA BURNETT
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — A newly released report finds prosecutors’ handling of the initial case against former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett represented a “major failure of operations.” The report by special prosecutor Dan Webb was released Monday. It details multiple instances of false public statements about the case by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and others in her office in 2019, when they first prosecuted Smollett for staging a fake attack then abruptly dropped the charges against him weeks later. Webb concluded that some of the office’s actions may be violations of legal ethics, but he said they did nothing criminal. The prosecutor’s office says there was no abuse of discretion. Separately, a jury recently convicted Smollett of lying to police in January 2019 about the staged attack.