Lake County Gazette

State Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) is still trying to make sense of the Jussie Smollett hate crime case.

Even with the former “Empire” star now convicted on five counts of filing fake hate crime claims, Bos still doesn’t like what he’s hearing, specifically that many experts are predicting the Hollywood star will likely get probation and community service as opposed to jail time.

“It's all been a travesty, from it taking a special prosecutor being put on the case to get to this point,” Bos said. “State’s Attorney Kim Foxx decided to not even investigate. I think it's unfortunate that a privileged few get to work the system. He willfully created a hoax to try to exploit the system and he knew what he was doing to try to get publicity for himself in the national media, which hasn’t come back to say anything after it’s been proven he wasted taxpayer resources.”

A Chicago jury recently found the former “Empire” star guilty on five counts of staging a fake hate crime nearly three years ago. The jury deliberated for nine hours over two days before returning its verdict in a case that attracted widespread attention and much commentary based on its racial overtones.

Smollett, who is Black and gay, told police his attackers placed a noose around his neck and yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him. Throughout the trial, brothers Abimbol and Olabinjo Osundairo testified that Smollett recruited them to stage the attack near his downtown Chicago home as part of a plot to draw more public attention to himself.

Bos points to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as being among those who made the situation worse by speaking out on the case before all the facts were publicly known

The drama comes at a time when 2021 has entered the books as one of the most violent years in city history, raising questions if lawmakers like Lightfoot are doing enough to help keep communities as safe as they can be.

By early December, more than 1,000 homicides were documented by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Of those homicides, 927 were committed during gun-related crimes.

And much of the violence hasn’t been restricted to the city’s inner-city neighborhoods. A 12-year-old girl was recently shot near North Michigan Avenue as large groups of teens gathered in the area.

At last count, 21 minors were arrested in the incident in which two Chicago police officers were injured and two replica firearms recovered.

Bos warns the time for change is now. 

“We've heard from CPD about how bad things are,” he said. “When you've got a state’s attorney that refuses to prosecute suspects officers have repeatedly arrested, you know things are bad. We see what being soft on crime does. We’re experiencing that now with the way almost every major crime statistic in the area is up.”