Equal justice for all is a bunch of hooey.
People of wealth, power, or other status, and who know someone who is well-connected, can get preferential treatment in the criminal justice system. The well-connected have advantages not afforded to others.
SOME WAYS INFORMATION HAS BEEN KEPT FROM THE PUBLIC
An “emergency” hearing was held
On March 26, 2019, the hearing, the case, was not on the regularly scheduled court call. This meant that the public had no reasonable notice or opportunity to view the proceedings.
1
Uncontested sealing of court records
I'm not certain, but it may be that "the process employed by the State's Attorney effectively denied law enforcement agencies of legally required Notice (See 20 ILCS 2630/5.2(d)(4)) and the legal opportunity to object to the sealing of the file (See 20 ILCS 2630/5.2(d)(5)). The State’s Attorney not only declined to fight the sealing of this case in court, but then provided false information to the public regarding it." That all according to the Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association.
2
There's no public, on the record explanation of why records were sealed
Attorney Brown Holmes, for defendant Jussie Smollett, asked "that the Court immediately seal the records."
The Judge did not read the motion to out loud, so there's no documentation as to why the court records were sealed.
Brown Holmes answered yes to having the order, and the Judge, after granting the State's motion to Nolle Pros, and after granting the State's motion to release D-Bond to the City of Chicago, the Judge simply said, "Motion, defendant, for immediate sealing of the criminal records will be granted as well."
3
The sealing order was not made public.
Little was said during that short, "emergency" hearing, so there's little public information about anything. It is not clear to me why it might take the Judge weeks–until late May–before he makes a statement about whether to unseal the records, when the "emergency" hearing lasted about five minutes.
Sources:
1, 2. Roupas, Lee. President, Illinois Prosecutor's Bar Association. "
IPBA Statement on Jussie Smollett Case Dismissal."
ilpba.org, 28 Mar 2019. Accessed from URL www. ilpba.org/announcements/7249825 4 April 2019.
3. WGN Web Desk. "
Read the full transcript from Jussie Smollett’s court appearance."
wgntv.com. 27 March 2019. Accessed from URL wgntv.com/2019/03/27/read-the-full-transcript-from-jussie-smolletts-court-appearance/ on 4 April 2019.
There is little-to-no transparency in the Jussie Smollett case.
Posted about 2:59 p.m. (EDT) Thursday, 4 April 2019 by Ernie Marsh