Chicago City Wire

In declining to prosecute looters and Black Lives Matter protestors, State Attorney Kim Foxx is nullifying statutes passed by the legislature and signed by a governor, according to a former judge now campaigning on the Republican ballot to unseat Foxx in November.

“She has taken away policy that voters decided should be good policy,” said Pat O’Brien, who was elected as a Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court where he presided over criminal and civil courtrooms for eight years. 

He accused Foxx of siding with lawbreakers rather than public safety on June 29 in a tweet on Twitter:

“No charges for looting, burglary, destruction of public property. - No charges for battery of civilians, police officers. - No bond payment required when arrested. - No charges for curfew violations. @KimFoxxforSA, once again, sides w/ lawbreakers over public safety,” he posted.

O’Brien was reacting to the news, as reported by FOX-TV based on internal communication, that Foxx had no intention of prosecuting BLM protestors or rioters who broke the law.

“My frustration is that this is upside down,” O’Brien told the Chicago City Wire. “I can't understand why Kim Foxx won the primary except for the fact that she's Democrat and the African American vote was pretty solid for her but this is just insane.” 

First Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Magats’ email allegedly stated: 

"Cases are to be nolled (dismissed) where curfew violations or city disorderly conduct was the basis of a stop that led to a felony or misdemeanor case....(i)f there are misdemeanor disorderlies where the conduct that was disorderly was a curfew violation, those cases are to be dismissed."

“You're basically degrading a neighborhood and indicating to people who want to commit crimes that it’s okay,” O’Brien said about the policy. “You're telling people generally that the fact they obey the law doesn't matter because ‘we're giving consideration to people who disobeyed the law who we think are victims, too.’”

Because Foxx is the chief law enforcement officer in Cook County, she has the right on an individual basis to dismiss cases under the doctrine of discretion. Voting Foxx out in November is the only remedy unless a violation is exposed, according to O'Brien, a former assistant Illinois Attorney General.

“If she was taking bribes or committing official misconduct, then she could be charged and potentially removed in that fashion,” O’Brien said. “Right now, we've got a special prosecutor who is investigating her for how she handled the Jussie Smollett case.” 

Otherwise, it’s likely that Foxx, the incumbent, will win again in November, according to George Pearson, chairman of the Will County Republican Party and political consultant.

“Kim Foxx has her mandate from the voters of Chicago that the job she's doing is exactly what they want,” Pearson told the Chicago City Wire. “For every person who sat at home and decided not to vote in the primary to remove her, whether Democrat or Republican, shame on them for allowing an anarchist agenda to advance and destroy the city of Chicago and Cook County.”

The first thing O’Brien says he would do if elected in November is to appeal to all the state's attorneys.

“I'd go to each of those buildings and tell the states attorneys, ‘we're back in the business of being prosecutors and prosecuting crime’,” he said.