Justice will be done

Special prosecutor calls for release of full report on Jussie Smollett investigation

Special Prosecutor Dan Webb’s report on the handling of the “Empire” actor’s case by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office has been under seal since August 2020.
By Andy Grimm and Michael Sneed Dec 15, 2021, 12:30pm CST


 

Just days after securing a guilty verdict against actor Jussie Smollett, Special Prosecutor Dan Webb has called for the release of his full 2020 report on how State’s Attorney Kim Foxx handled Smollett’s case. The report, except for a short summary, had been under seal. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times, Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times


Less than a week after securing guilty verdicts against Jussie Smollett, Special Prosecutor Dan Webb Wednesday called for the release of his full report

into the controversial handling of the case by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office.

Webb, who was appointed special prosecutor in 2019 to probe the fake hate crime as well as the decision by Foxx’s office to drop a 16-count indictment against the “Empire” actor, filed a motion with Judge Michael Toomin. A hearing is set for Monday.

Toomin was the judge to appointed Webb to lead the Smollett investigation.

Smollett was eventually re-indicted in the case.

Toomin ordered Webb’s full 60-page report sealed because it contained information from grand jury proceedings, despite a previous motion from Webb to make the full report public. Since Smollett was found guilty on five of six counts of disorderly conduct, Webb’s motion states there is no longer a reason to keep the report sealed.

“The trial of Mr. Smollett being complete, it is now appropriate for the seal on the (Special Prosecutor’s) summary report to be lifted and for it to be publicly available,” the motion states.

Though Webb found no evidence of criminal misconduct by Foxx and her staff in the office’s decision to drop the charges, he accused the county’s top prosecutor of “substantial abuses of discretion.”