A Cook Country judge ripped into embattled Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for allegedly giving special treatment to TV star Jussie Smollett, a transcript obtained by FOX 32 revealed.
According to the Chicago Police Department, Smollett “orchestrated” a hate crime hoax against himself in January. However, Foxx’s office dropped 16 felony disorderly conduct charges against the actor for having previously served a mere 16 hours of community service and forfeiting a $10,000 bond.
Twenty-one-year-old Candace Clark, who faces a single felony count for allegedly making a false police report, is not getting the same treatment, argued Cook County Judge Marc Martin.
“I’d like to know why Ms. Clark is being treated differently than Jussie Smollett. It’s a disorderly conduct case. A lot less egregious than Mr. Smollett’s case. I have a problem with it,” Judge Marc Martin said of Foxx at an April 11 court hearing.
“Ms. Clark is not a movie star, she doesn’t have a high-priced lawyer,” the judge continued.
“And this smells big time. Your office created this mess,” he added. “There’s no publicity on this case. Press gets ahold of this; it’ll be the newspaper.”
Clark allegedly gave an acquaintance access to her bank account and then falsely reported that she had been robbed. According to FOX 32, Clark is expected to “make full restitution of $2,800 and serve deferred prosecution, something not required of Smollett.”
The 21-year-old maintains that she’s innocent.
Clark, like Judge Martin, believes she’s being treated differently because she’s not a rich celebrity.
The double standard Clark’s facing is “simply because I don’t have publicity,” she said.
When the judge took her side on the “double standard” argument, Clark said she felt “ecstatic, overwhelmed, and I got a little emotional, because I felt like he’d seen my innocence.”
“I’m just a regular girl just trying to make it out here, doing a job, working ten-hours shifts, overnights,” the 21-year-old told a FOX 32 reporter. “I’m just trying my best.”
“I’m not Jussie Smollett. I wish I was, but it’s okay,” she added. “I’ll get my justice.”
A spokesperson for Foxx refused to make a comment to the outlet.
Smollett claimed in late January that he was targeted in the streets of downtown Chicago for being gay and black by two white Trump supporters. The men, according to Smollett, physically assaulted him, called him the N-word and a “f****t,” doused him with a bleach-like substance, and tied a noose around his neck. When evidence from the Chicago Police Department revealed that the “attack” was apparently orchestrated by the actor himself, he was charged with filing a false report and later hit with 16 other related charges — though those charges were abruptly dropped by Foxx’s office.
The “Empire” actor is currently being sued by the City of Chicago; the city’s Law Department is seeking damages from Smollett in the amount of $130,106.15.
“The Defendant knew his attackers and orchestrated the purported attack himself,” the suit claims, as previously reported by The Daily Wire. “Later, when police confronted him with evidence about his attackers, he still refused to disclose his involvement in planning the attack.”
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