Prosecutors drop charges against Jussie Smollett, drawing strong rebuke from Chicago’s mayor and police
Prosecutors in Cook County, Ill., dropped charges against Jussie Smollett on Tuesday, an astonishing reversal that came a month after the actor was arrested, charged with lying to police about a bigoted attack and pilloried by Chicago’s top police official on live television.
Prosecutors announced their decision only 18 days after a grand jury had indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts. In dropping the charges, officials cited the actor’s history of volunteer work and the two days of community service he had performed since his arrest, as well as his agreement to forfeit his $10,000 bond to the city.
Smollett — who is gay and black — first told police in January he was attacked by men shouting racial and homophobic slurs, along with invoking President Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Since then, the case has played out in full view of the public, first sparking an outpouring of support for the actor and then outrage as the police said that, rather than being a victim, Smollett was the perpetrator.
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Joe Magats, the first assistant state’s attorney in Cook County, said in an interview Tuesday that such a dismissal was not uncommon and an alternative to prosecution allowable under Illinois law. The office took into account Smollett’s lack of a violent criminal background and the “facts and circumstances of the case,” Magats said. The decision “should not be considered by anyone as a statement, a signal, a hint, anything, that the case is weak or the case fell apart.”
But the prosecutor’s decision prompted stern rebukes from top officials in the city, which played out again live on television.
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Smollett and his attorneys “chose to hide behind secrecy and broker a deal to circumvent the judicial system.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) said: “This is, without a doubt, a whitewash of justice and sends a clear message that if you’re in a position of influence and power, you’ll get treated one way, other people will be treated another way. There is no accountability.”
