Judge Delays Ruling On Petition To Recuse Himself From Request For Special Prosecutor In Jussie Smollett Case
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Before a Cook County judge could decide on a request to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate State's Attorney Kim Foxx's handling of the Jussie Smollett case, he was asked to recuse himself, because his son works for Foxx's office.
Retired appeals court judge Sheila O'Brien, who is seeking the special prosecutor, argued Presiding Criminal Court Judge LeRoy Martin should have another judge consider her request to guarantee impartiality.
Martin's son works in the juvenile division of Foxx's office as an assistant state's attorney.
Attorneys from Foxx's office argued Martin handles thousands of cases brought by the state's attorney's office every day, but O'Brien said the Smollett case is different, because of questions about Foxx's handling of the case, and the potential appearance of impropriety.
"You're going to be deciding whether your son's boss, is telling truth," O'Brien said.
Martin said this is the first time the issue of his son's job in Foxx's office has been brought up in his courtroom.
"It troubles me that we're having this discussion abut my family member because, bringing one's family into these kinds of circumstances is troubling," Martin said.
Martin said he was prepared to hear arguments on O'Brien's request for a special prosecutor until O'Brien asked him to recuse himself. He said the fairest thing for him to do was take time to consider the request to recuse himself, and scheduled another hearing for May 10.
Assistant State's Attorney Mark Rotert, who heads the conviction integrity unit at Foxx's office and is about to retire, said O'Brien's request that Martin recuse himself was just an effort to distract from a flawed request for a special prosecutor.
Rotert said O'Brien knows she can't win her petition for a special prosecutor, so she is trying to misdirect by bringing up Martin's son.
Foxx has opposed O'Brien's request for a special prosecutor, saying she has already invited the Cook County inspector general's office to review her actions in the Smollett case, and a special prosecutor wouldn't be needed because there is "no actual conflict of interest."
In her petition for a special prosecutor, O'Brien writes that she "does not know Kim Foxx, the State's Attorney of Cook County and has no vendetta against her or the state's attorney's office."
Smollett is accused of staging his own racist and homophobic attack and filing a false police report. Just weeks after he was charged, Foxx's office dismissed the case.
O'Brien also has subpoenaed Foxx and Smollett to appear in court for her request, but both are fighting those subpoenas.