Cook County Judge Michael Toomin ordered that Special Prosecutor Dan Webb’s full report into his investigation of possible mistreatment of Jussie Smollett’s case be released now that his trial has concluded.
Dan Webb was appointed special prosecutor to the Smollett case in 2019, after Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office dropped a 16-count indictment against the actor. Webb’s job was to probe the handling of the Smollett case and the decision to drop the charges. His investigation led to a new 6-count indictment and accusations that Foxx’s office abused prosecutorial discretion by dropping the original charges.
Smollett went to trial earlier this month on those charges and was found guilty on five out of six of them. Soon after, Webb asked for the full report his office did into the decision by Foxx to drop the charges be released.
SPECIAL PROSECUTOR IN JUSSIE SMOLLETT CASE REQUESTS RELEASE OF FULL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett arrives at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building to hear the verdict in his trial on December 9, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Smollett was accused of lying to police when he reported that two masked men physically attacked him, yelling racist and anti-gay remarks near his Chicago home in 2019. Smollett was found guilty of five of the six counts against him. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, that’s exactly what the judge did Monday. Now, the 60-page report will be made public. The outlet notes that this is the second time that Webb tried to make his investigation’s findings public. Six months after the charges were dropped, the judge appointed Webb to determine if the case was properly handled by Foxx’s office when it dropped the initial 16 charges against the “Empire” actor. Not only did he have to determine if Smollett should face renewed charges, but he also had to figure out if there was mishandling of the case on the part of Foxx’s office.
CNN and MSNBC have continued to treat Jussie Smollett with kid gloves despite being found guilty Thursday on five of the six charges against him stemming from the hate crime hoax he orchestrated in 2019. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
While Smollett has been convicted and faces sentencing on five of the six new counts against him, the release of the 60-page report will expose any depths of what was found against the initial prosecution’s handling of the case as well as who was involved.
The jury found the 39-year-old actor guilty on the five counts of disorderly conduct — for each separate time he was charged with lying to police in the days immediately after the alleged attack. He was acquitted on a sixth count, of lying to a detective in mid-February, weeks after Smollett said he was attacked.
Smollett’s defense attorney said they will be appealing the actor’s guilty verdicts.
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Actor Jussie Smollett arrives at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021, day seven of his trial in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
After the verdict was read, Nenye Uche told reporters Smollett was disappointed and that he is “100% innocent.” He said Smollett’s team is confident “he’s going to be cleared of all, all accusations on all charges.”
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“The verdict is inconsistent,” he said during a press conference following the verdicts. “You can’t say Jussie is lying and say Jussie is not lying for the same exact incident.”
Fox News’ Matt Finn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
