CHICAGO – Staunchly defending her office’s handing of the Jussie Smollett case, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said in an exclusive interview with the Tribune late Thursday that the 150-day jail sentence handed down by a judge could be questioned as “revenge” against the actor rather than justice.
While Foxx told the Tribune she was confident in Smollett’s guilt, she said her office was justified in dropping the initial charges and questioned whether the former “Empire” actor’s second prosecution was worth the yearslong effort to secure a conviction.
And Smollett’s sentence ended up being far harsher than most low-level felony penalties for defendants with nonviolent backgrounds, she said during an hourlong interview at an art gallery on Chicago’s South Side.
