Why Does Secrecy Prevail in Chicago Prosecutor’s Office?

In another controversy, Kim Foxx is scrutinized for refusing to comply with FOIAs

Among the various protectors of the Chicago regime who pose as journalists, a steady stream of social media posts boast about the frequency of Freedom of Information Requests filed with various government officials.

FOIA requests are justified and promoted as an example of the Chicago media doing its job to serve the public and maintain accountability, but the truth is that FOIAs are in fact just another tool in the arsenal of the media harassing the political enemies of the radical left in control of Chicago. FOIAs are used to protect dubious media narratives while ignoring research that might undermine their concocted stories.

An example of how FOIAs are misapplied is revealed in a two-part story published in the Chicago City Wire, entitled “What is Kim Foxx Hiding?” In his exposé, journalist W.J. Kennedy alleges Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office has refused to release records on two high-profile stories that stand to cost Chicago taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

In the first instance, Chicago City Wire asserts that Foxx has refused to turn over documents connected to the exonerations of killers tied to former Chicago Police detective Ray Guevara. The retired detective has been accused of coercing confessions from suspects in a litany of cases. Writing in Chicago City Wire, Kennedy reported:

“A City Wire reporter made the initial requests of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) for the Guevara documents in mid-May, and the request for the Hernandez files in early June. An attorney representing the paper followed up on the requests earlier this month.”

Records sought by Chicago City Wire on the Guevara cases are consequential. Chicago has already paid out millions in claims against the former detective at the same time attorneys representing Chicago have alleged in various cases that the claims against Guevara are false. One tactic that attorneys defending Guevara have employed is deposing Foxx’s top prosecutors. A strategy that has paid dividends, attorneys for Chicago have argued after these depositions that top prosecutors serving under Foxx believed the accused were indeed guilty. In the depositions, city attorneys compelled Foxx’s prosecutors to explain why they vacated convictions.

A monumental story that could feasibly strike at the heart of Foxx’s radical transformation of the State’s Attorney’s office, no mainstream media figure or organization followed up on the stunning revelations about Foxx’s top prosecutors. How could any news organization, let an alone Chicago’s entire media establishment, justify ignoring such statements in a federal trial involving horrific murders and hundreds of millions in taxpayer money?

Foxx’s refusal to comply with FOIA requests and hand over documents sought raises an important question. What is the relationship between Foxx and law firms representing the inmates claiming they were falsely convicted at the hands of Guevara? Foxx’s predecessor, Anita Alvarez, steadfastly refused to overturn the convictions tied to Guevara, claiming that the offenders were legitimately convicted. The scandal-ridden Foxx immediately began releasing Guevara offenders shortly after taking office. Why the immediate reversal? What was it that compelled Foxx to release the men Alvarez refused to free?

Foxx’s FOIA problems are not limited to her controversial handling of cases related to Guevera. Foxx is also under fire for refusing to release records in an infamous double-murder case of two police officers in 1982. Jackie and Andrew Wilson had been convicted for their role in the murders of Officers William Fahey and Richard O’Brien during a traffic stop on the South Side. In a bizarre third trial, Jackie Wilson’s criminal case fell apart. Wilson then filed a federal lawsuit against a legion of former detectives and prosecutors.

One of the attorneys representing a prosecutor in Wilson’s civil lawsuit has claimed in motions that Foxx’s actions to release the files is “egregious.”

Could the Chicago City Wire FOIA request unearth documents that may finally reveal the inner workings of Foxx’s notoriously anti-police transformation of the city’s criminal justice system?

If so, it would be yet another black eye for the Chicago media.