Friday, April 8, 2022

‘Nothing without integrity’


Sam Mendenhall
    “Exclusive video,” Fox 32 News promised a few days ago, “shows ex-’Empire’ actor’s first moments in Cook County Jail.”
     Sigh.
     I don’t blame the media. Have you ever driven past a car wreck and not taken a look? Nor do I blame the audience. There is something compelling about the Jussie Smollett case, an echoing mystery: How could this rich, handsome, apparently smart young man so methodically destroy his career?
     Even now, with the actor convicted of staging a hate crime hoax out on bond and all of us waiting, maybe for a year, to see whether he has to spend a few richly-deserved months in jail. Attention must be paid.
     Okay then, let’s pay attention.
     But is there a law that says everything about the Jussie Smollett case has to be about Jussie Smollett?
     Why not meet Sam Mendenhall instead?
     Haven’t heard the name? Dan Webb, the special prosecutor assigned to the case after Kim Foxx made an absolute hash of it, wanted the jury to measure Smollett’s character, or lack of same, against a man like Mendenhall, a partner at Winston & Strawn.
     “That is absolutely correct,” said Webb, executive co-chair at Winston. “The juxtaposition between Jussie Smollett and everything he did, compared to down-to-earth Sam Mendenhall, telling it like it is, talking about the evidence. He is a great lawyer.”

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3 comments:

  1. Love the last sentence referring to "papering over old lies with new ones."

    john

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  2. Compelling for you but not so much for me and probably most of your other readers. Too much else going on of greater importance or divergence.
    Sure, kudos to Sam Mendenhall for all he's achieved and contributed but successful and talented people blowing it due to bad decisions and/or mental health issues, is nothing new.
    Belushi, Prinze, Winehouse, Rosanne Barr, Kathy Griffin, Brian Williams, Alec Baldwin, and all the athletes who couldn't handle prosperity to name just a few.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry Les, but it was compelling. Don't project your opinions onto others.

    ReplyDelete

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