Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office has dismissed more than 25,000 felony cases: report

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has dismissed more than 25,000 felony cases - including murder cases- during her tenure from November 2019, according to an analysis by the Chicago Tribune based on data from the Cook County State's Attorney office.

During Foxx’s first three years as the county’s top prosecutor, her office dropped all charges against 29.9% of felony defendants.

The report revealed Foxx is dismissing cases at a 35% higher rate than her predecessor, Anita Alvarez. For the last three years of Anita Alvarez’s tenure, the rate was 19.4%.

The Tribune reported that Foxx did not dispute the findings, but she argued that the statistics give "an incomplete picture of her commitment to keeping the public safe."

“It is always eye-opening to be able to look at our own data and compare it to my predecessor’s past,” Foxx told the newspaper. “I can’t reconcile what her decision-making was, and how they chose to (dismiss) cases in the past. But I will say that this administration has been clear that our focus would be on violent crime and making sure that our resources and attention would go to addressing violent crime.”

She noted that her office has also dismissed cases against low-level, nonviolent offenders so prosecutors can "concentrate on crimes of violence."

According to the Tribune, however, Foxx’s higher rates of dropped cases included people accused of murder, shootings, sex crimes and attacks on police officers, as well as drug offenses that the outlet says has "driven much of Chicago’s street violence."

In the three-year period analyzed, Foxx’s office dropped 8.1% of homicide cases and 9.5% of felony sex crime cases, compared with 5.3% of homicide cases and 6.5% of felony sex crime cases under Alvarez.

Meanwhile, the rate of dropped cases for aggravated battery and for aggravated battery with a firearm also increased. Under Foxx, the percentage of cases dropped for defendants accused of aggravated battery of a police officer more than doubled, from 3.9% to 8.1%.

Foxx argued that it is important to her to create an environment where assistant state's attorneys can be encouraged to openly discuss dropping felony charges for cases with legal problems.

“Recognizing the history that we’ve had around wrongful convictions, recogniz... (Read more)

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