Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx is open to an outside investigation into her office's decision to drop all charges against Jussie Smollett, the prosecutor wrote in a newspaper editorial. Foxx said in a Friday night op-ed for the Chicago Tribune that a review about prosecutors' decision to dismiss all 16 felony counts against the Empire actor would help maintain transparency, per the AP. The dismissal drew an immediate rebuke from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, with the mayor calling it a "whitewash of justice." "I am not perfect, nor is any other prosecutor out there, but ensuring that I and my office have our community's trust is paramount," Foxx wrote. Smollett was accused of faking a racist, anti-gay attack on himself.
While Foxx said Tuesday's decision to drop the charges doesn't exonerate Smollett, as the actor has claimed, she indicated that some of the evidence made getting a conviction "uncertain." "In determining whether or not to pursue charges, prosecutors are required to balance the severity of the crime against the likelihood of securing a conviction," Foxx wrote. "For a variety of reasons ... my office believed the likelihood of securing a conviction was not certain." Police maintain that Smollett staged the attack to promote his career, and Chicago officials have ordered him to pay more than $130,000 to cover the cost of the investigation. Foxx said Smollett's "alleged unstable actions have probably caused him more harm than any court-ordered penance could." (More Jussie Smollett stories.)
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