SMOLLETT LAWYERS CALL SPECIAL PROSECUTOR RULING A ‘TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE’
Taking aim at a Cook County judge and two key witnesses, Jussie Smollett’s lawyers Friday asked to cancel a special prosecutor investigation of the “Empire” actor and to replace the judge who ordered the probe.
In a stack of motions, Tina Glandian and Mark Geragos pointed to evidence they say showed the actor was the innocent victim of an attack planned and executed by two acquaintances, and argued that veteran Judge Michael Toomin made it clear that he believed that Smollett faked the assault.
“This case has been a travesty of justice and an unprecedented deprivation of Mr. Smollett’s constitutional rights, including the presumption of innocence and right to a fair trial,” the motion states.
Toomin a month ago ruled that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Smollett’s case, which had been dismissed by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office after a grand jury issued a 16-count indictment against the actor for allegedly making false reports to Chicago police about a Jan. 29 attack near his Streeterville apartment.
Toomin has not announced his pick or set a date for the next hearing on the matter.
Smollett’s motion calls for the judge to either drop the special prosecutor appointment, or to limit the scope of the investigation to “potential misconduct” and not allow a do-over of the hate crime investigation.
In a separate motion, the lawyers asked that another judge replace Toomin, based on his written order that implies Smollett is guilty. Toomin’s order opens with “Smollett conceived a fantasy that propelled him from the role of a sympathetic victim of a vicious homophobic attack to that of charlatan who fomented a hoax the equal of any twisted television intrigue.”
In still another motion, Smollett’s lawyers ask to unseal transcripts of grand jury testimony of Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, brothers whom Chicago police have said confessed to attacking Smollett — in exchange for a $3,500 payoff. Smollett’s lawyers say public statements by police and the Osundairos’ lawyer, Gloria Schmidt, are inconsistent with evidence in the case.
Throughout the filings, Smollett’s lawyers point to evidence they received from prosecutors that, they say, shows the brothers planned an attack on Smollett without the actor’s knowledge or involvement.
Smollett’s lawyers pointed to text messages exchanged between the Osundairos that shows they harbored homophobic feelings.
The lawyers also said police reports said a security guard working at a hotel the morning of the attack saw two masked men dressed in black jogging away from the location where Smollett said he was assaulted, and that another bystander said she saw a white man with what appeared to be a rope dangling from under his jacket as a previously unmentioned potential third accomplice.
Glandian and Geragos have been sued for defamation by the Osundairo brothers.