Two of State's Attorney Kim Foxx's top deputies are set to leave her office amid growing turmoil over its handling of the Jussie Smollett case, including the officer who announced the prosecutor had recused herself.
Chief ethics officer April Perry, who also served as Foxx's chief deputy, and the head of the conviction integrity unit Mark Rotert will leave their posts next month, it has been confirmed.
Perry was the officer who wrote a memo to the office announcing Foxx had recused herself from the Smollett case after it emerged she had exchanged text messages with a member of his family in the days after the incident.
Her email read: 'Please note that State's Attorney Kim Foxx is recused from the investigation involving victim Jussie Smollett. First Assistant State's Attorney Joe Magats is serving as the Acting State's Attorney for this matter.'
Two of State Attorney Kim Foxx's top deputies are set to leave her office. Chief ethics officer April Perry, who also served as Foxx's chief deputy, and the head of the conviction integrity unit Mark Rotert, right, are leaving amid turmoil over the Jussie Smollett case
Police say Jussie Smollett paid Abel and Ola Osundairo to beat him in what he then described as a racist, homophobic attack by two Trump-loving perpetrators. He has always maintained his innocence and insisted he was attacked
Foxx then handed the case over to her deputy Joe Magats and weeks later the 16 grand jury charges against Smollett were suddenly dropped.
But while she announced at the time that she was recusing herself, she has since said she meant it in a 'colloquial' sense rather than a 'legal sense' and that it was more an informal decision to 'step away from the decision making' rather than remove herself entirely from it.
And the release of thousands of texts and emails this week show Foxx continued to meddle in the case, calling the actor a 'washed up celeb who lied to cops' and telling Magats that the actor was being overcharged.
It is understood Perry, who started working under Foxx two years ago, will start work for a tech start-up while veteran prosecutor Rotert is set to retire.
He handed in his notice a day before all charges against Empire actor Smollett were dropped. Perry resigned Wednesday and they both will leave May 3.
