The bizarre Jussie Smollett controversy has taken another surprising turn. According to CNN, all charges against the Empire star, who was accused of staging a hate crime against himself earlier this year, have now been dropped.
In case you somehow missed the giant clusterfuck of a situation, let’s recap: On January 29 Smollett claimed two men wearing MAGA hats shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him, poured bleached on him, and tied a noose around his neck. Then the Chicago police department’s investigation accused the actor of fabricating the alleged assault against himself. He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, then later indicted on 16 new felony charges by the Chicago grand jury. The Chicago police claimed the actor had previously known and hired the two men accused of attacking him because he was dissatisfied with his salary on the Fox series. And then Smollett was cut from the last two episodes of Empire’s current season. Like we said, it’s been messy.
Smollett has maintained his innocence throughout this whole saga, both in an emotional Good Morning America interview and again when entering a not guilty plea earlier this month. On Tuesday morning he returned to court for an “emergency appearance” where all the charges against him were dismissed and his record was wiped clean.
Smollett’s lawyers maintain that the actor wasn’t involved in his attack, claiming in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter that Smollett is “a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgment.” The statement added that the entire situation is a “reminder that a victim, in this case Jussie, deserves dignity and respect. Dismissal of charges against the victim in this case was the only just result. Jussie is relieved to have this situation behind him and is very much looking forward to getting back to focusing on his family, friends and career.”
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I think I speak for all of us when I say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
SOMEONE TELL ME WHO TO BE ANGRY AT
Don’t worry, the Root is preparing an article right this instant.
Fox News, almost certainly, for the disparity in reporting this and the Mueller investigation, which had similar (technically) results.
According to the root, we should be angry at white people.
“Jussie Smollett… welcome to the Resistance.”Am I doing this right?
Yes, a better one. 😀 😀
THOSE MEDDLING KIDS!
Jussie clearly faked the attack to scare off potential investors in the nearby apartment complex that Jussie wanted replaced with a haunted amusement park.
And he would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for angry AV Club commenters and their cowardly dogs.
Jinkies!
“Ruh roh!”-Scooby Doo-also, Felicity Huffman
… the fact that this was so breathlessly reported at each step of the process…
Other than that… I guess be angry at… the universe?This is a perfect case study of how fucked everything is right now.
Jussie Smollett.
Mother Teresa.
I’m from Wisconsin, so Chicago would be my default answer….but this time, it’s definitely Chicago.
Bill Cosby.
You can be angry at me, if it helps. Plenty of other people were in the comment threads on these stories.
Between this and the Mueller investigation ending with a dud:¯\_(ツ)_/¯ indeed. Not sure what to say.
I’m still not calling the Mueller investigation a complete wash.
If it was, I don’t imagine we’d see so many GOP people calling so urgently for it to be shuttered (or, in Nunes’s case, burned.)
I don’t see this ending in mass perp walks (to be honest, I never did – about the most explosive finale I saw of this was it potentially being the catalyst for Trump getting a stroke/coronary), but, as the GOP so loves to say when the question of police brutality arises ‘if they’ve done nothing wrong, they have nothing to worry about’, so this tells me there’s at least something in there that has them concerned enough to keep the ball in play.
“Between this and the Mueller investigation ending with a dud” Hey, it’s not a dud! I understand that he-whose-name-I-won’t-type is on pace to face real consequences by about the year 2035.
It would be a minor miracle if he lived that long. (Miracles can be bad too?)
Yeah, I know. Another way to make my claim would be: He’s basically going to continue to get away with whatever he does indefinitely.
Not I, Mr. Fargo. This whole thing is fascinating and I want to know what actually happened.
Poor Jessie Mullets.
I hope she feels better soon.
I hope he releases a statement that he won’t rest until he finds the “real attackers,” and then writes a book called “(if) I DID IT.”
I’m beyond confused.
There must be Schoolhouse Rock! cartoon simplifying all this for all the confused 8-year-olds out there.
You’re assuming a lot there.
I think some interjections might be appropriate for this situation.
This is not what everyone else is reporting. There is no deal for Smollett to do any community service. There’s only a vague statement from the prosecutor that Smollett has done community service at some point in his past (like literally everyone on earth, especially famous people), and they took that into account when deciding to drop the charges. None of that makes sense. The prosecutor’s office is refusing to say publicly whether they believe Jussie is guilty or not. https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/jussie-smollett-charges-dropped-lawyers-1.5071886
Wait a sec, the State’s attorney literally has MAGA in his last name? I don’t see a conspiracy before, but now I see nothing but.
Sounds like it was confusion and the attackers were yelling “This is Magat’s County”
Pretty much!
well put
Report back to me when… uh, I dunno… when it starts making sense.
One of my favourite JK Simmons performances.
CPD cannot be trusted. This whole thing has been a giant clusterfuck.
The fact that so many people seemed to be willing to let this fact slide is disturbing.
I know that the CPD have a dodgy reputation but that doesn’t change the fact that there is clear CCTV footage of those Nigerian guys buying the equipment that was used in the alleged assault.
Was there any actual punishment for the CPB having literal torture sites for years?
As far as I know, mostly just the millions paid out in lawsuits.
While the CPD may not be very trustworthy, they appear to be far more truthful than Mr Gay Tupac.
Unlikely. They covered up an officer shooting for over a year. They hid police torture. They are both evil and untrustworthy.
State prosecutors were very clear: the CPD investigation had no issues or errors. They basically said it wasn’t worth it to move forward, even though they are certain Jussie Smollett is guilty.That’s straight from the prosecutor
I think the big issue here is that they let him pay for the charges to go away.
Important facts:
Smollett agreed to do community service and forfeit his $100,000 bond.This isn’t the case being dropped because he’s innocent, he cut a deal. The state doesn’t have to prove its case and pockets $100 K, Smollett gets to claim he’s innocent and maybe save his career.
Facts which seem to be mysteriously missing from this article.
yahp this is what happens when you have non-journalists trying to write actual news journalism.
You should see the way The Root reported this story.Jesus Christ. SMH
Jesus was a person of color.
Pretty sure he looked like one of the Bee Gees, actually. :-)Seriously though, believers like to say god created man in his own image, but really, man created gods in their own image. Buddha, Allah, Shiva, Jehovah, Odin, Zeus, gods tend to resemble the people who invented them.
You’re not wrong overall, but Buddha was a historical figure and he really was Indian. He looks like that because that’s really who he was.
Yep, he probably looked something like Yassar Arafat, being that he was a Semite. Certainly didn’t look like that blond hippie that you see in most European and American churches.
Yeah, He was black too.
Arabian.
Jewish. King of them, in fact.
So they say.Personally, I don’t believe there was a “Jesus”, just an amalgamation of various prophets. The Middle East was lousy with prophets back then, and tales grew taller with the telling.
Those records can be made public though since this was such a high profile case.
Not if the record is expunged.
That’s really…weird. I must sound naive, but you can just pay your way out?
Or into the college of your choice!
That’s really…weird. I must sound naive, but you can just pay your way out?Oh, hi. You must be new here. Welcome to America! The racismand the mass shootings are terrible, but we do have great bar-b-que!
Plea deals happen all the time, although it doesn’t appear based on everything I’ve read that Smollett actually got one as OP said (happy to be proven wrong here). Either way, a plea deal as described would not be the type given to the average defendant, who would obviously be much less wealthy and famous than Smollett. As a practice, it’s actually quite problematic, since, combined with cash bail, the system ends up coercing people into admitting guilt in order to get a plea deal and get out of jail, even if they were innocent of the crime, because it takes so long to get to trial anyway. Of course, even if you do make it to trial, if you couldn’t afford bail, you often can’t afford a lawyer, so you’re stuck with a public defender whose spent maybe 15 minutes on your case. Just wild
I must sound naive, but you can just pay your way out? Sometimes you can, in many legal situations – as another poster said, if the prosecution doesn’t have to prove its case, and their side gets money, sometimes that will be the settlement. It’s interesting how many things don’t go to trial just because the prosecution’s case is hard to prove, or even will just be time-consuming to do so.Still – if it’s true that all Smollett did was forfeit a 100K bond and agree to community service… that makes it sound like there’s more to the situation than any of us will ever know. So I’m confused – did he get beaten and then only exaggerate? Did the supposed perpetrators change their story? I don’t guess the tv movie about it will be coming out any time soon.
I would note, that depending on the crime (extreme emphasis on this), “paying your way out” might be preferable from a societal view.
An example: Someone causes property damage of $1500. Having them merely pay that back rather than go through all the way to trial – potentially having to stay in jail during that time or after – saves the local government an incredible amount of money. Money that can be spent elsewhere. The victim is compensated for their loss and the perpetrator has paid something as a result.
It can be very expensive to keep people in jail and prison – even government run non-profit jails/prisons. This cost accumulates very quickly. A rule of thumb for my local area is it costs the County $150 a day to keep someone in jail.
If you have enough money (and believe hard enough)!
The thing is with the crimes he was being charged with, chances are he would never have seen any prison time. If he is guilty then the only damages that happened were wasted money by the Chicago Police department(and maybe Trumps ego, but that would be a civil matter). No one was hurt(other then himself) or killed, No property was stolen or damaged. He would have ended up paying a fine and being done. He would have a criminal record but I am not even sure anything he did would be considered a felony
He was charged with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct.
Wow really? I’ll be honest I didn’t follow the case that close but from what I understand all he was alleged to have done was hire two guys to beat him up and then he claimed Trump supporters did it as a hate crime. Maybe there is more to it but 16 counts of disorderly conduct seems excessive
That was huuuuuuuuge over-reach. 16 counts.Pick 1 or2 and call it a day.
That always seemed like ridiculous overcharging, like they were trying to intimidate him into a plea. On the other hand, it seems like he should be charged with something.
hahahahahahahahahahahaha. You’re new to American now, aren’t you.
I mean, I can’t. You probably can’t.Jussie Smollett can.
That’s one of the main reasons for plea deals. It’s one of the ways a lot of rich people get off squeaky clean.
You got a source on that?
“After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the city of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case,” the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/arts/television/jussie-smollett-charges-dropped.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Common-fucking sense. The prosecutor knew the odds of getting a unanimous verdict on a case like this in Chicago was miniscule; someone on the jury would decide to stick it to the police for all of their murderous fuckery against people of color.
I’m hearing that the community service was not part of the deal and that the bond was only 10k, not 100k.
Bail was 100k. The bond was 10k. He showed up for court, so he gets his bail back. Minus the bond if he couldn’t pony up the full 100k himself. Now that I write that out, it’s pretty normal.
I feel like every time I see bond/bail, I have to relearn the difference. Thanks for the clarification!
Community service is part of the deal as per the failing NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/smollett-emanuel-chicago-police.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
100k: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/02/20/empire-actor-jussie-smollett-is-suspected-filing-false-police-report/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d7d9978a9824
He forfeited the bond. He does not have to do community service. Cook County States Attorney confirmed this. Yikes! Lots of reading comprehension issues going on with this case.
He’s not being required to do community service.
Community service is part of the deal as per the failing NY Times:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/smollett-emanuel-chicago-police.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Don’t have a NYT sub but the quote given to NPR was “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollet[t]’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his [$10,000] bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.” That community service referenced is PAST community service, not hours he was given as a sentence or deal. You can read about it here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-jussie-smollett-community-service-letters-20190326-htmlstory.html
I see your quote and raise you one quote from behind a NYT paywall: “Joe Magats, the prosecutor, said the charges were dropped after Mr. Smollett, accused of staging a hate crime attack in January, agreed to community service and to give up the $10,000 he paid for his release.”
Well then yet again we live in a world without facts maybe because I read in multiple places that they were talking about community service already rendered. It seems like if he was charged to do more service, there would be a number of hours attached. So yeah I’m confused.
The latest thing I saw was that he did sixteen hours of community service. Our long national nightmare is over.
“volunteer service in the community”: https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/report-charges-against-jussie-smollett-dropped-record-1833575118
Smollett charges dropped “not part of a deferred prosecution” At a post hearing press conference, Patricia Holmes, attorney for Jussie Smollett, says the state made a legal decision to seal the records and drop the charges.She clarified it is “not part of a deferred prosecution” and there “is no deal.”Holmes urged the Chicago Police “not to jump ahead and utilize the press to convict people before they are tried in a court of law.”
He didn’t cut a deal. Other better articles already cleared that. You don’t know shit.
He did though. From the other side of kinja: https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/report-charges-against-jussie-smollett-dropped-record-1833575118
That’s not what the police department statement says. It says they’re keeping the bond, but it says that he’s already done good things for the community. It doesn’t say the he’s doing community service as any kind of sentence for his crime.
A plea is not the same thing as a sentence, it’s a plea. It’s a deal, so that you’re NOT persecuted.
10k and since you repeated yourself 10k is the bond.
Usually you have to plead guilty to some sort of charges in a plea deal.
Not in a deferred-prosecution agreement.
Look to see if these charges were dismissed with or without prejudice. If it was without prejudice then it was likely part of a DPA.
I don’t think the community service was in exchange for the deal, though it’s hard to tell from this:“The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement to THR: ‘After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.’”
So do his get that money back or why agree to forfeit it if you claim that you never lied all along?
To avoid a trial?
Possibly because a wealthy individual thinks 10K is a pretty small price to pay to put this all behind him, guilty or not.
Consider that all charges against him were dropped and his record expunged – so the fact that he was charged will never show up on a criminal background check. Consider that had he rejected this arrangement he’d have to go to trial and pay his own legal fees out of pocket. So even if he was found not guilty, he’d still be out a lot more money in legal fees than what he’s giving up here, and he’d still have the fact of the arrest on his record. With this deal, he saves money, his record is technically cleared and all he has to give up is a public vindication at trial which he probably wouldn’t have gotten in the first place.His alternative sare either go to trail and possibly lose or go to trial and be found not guilty – and in either case be out a lot more cash in both legal fees and lost income. Not hard to see why Smollet would take this offer.
This isn’t the place to get into it, but there’s a lot of weird shadiness with bail, bond, court costs, that sort of thing. There’s a lot of little loopholes and crap like that that courts can and will use to keep money you should be getting back — especially if, say, an investigation has turned up something where the state feels the best scenario is to drop it and wants to salve their ego a bit.
They say he already did the community service previously .The bond was only 10,000
I was thinking the same thing.
$10,000, not $100,000…big difference.And the case was dropped, because prosecutors didn’t think they could win the case and also possibly for favoritism, based on political connections the DA had with Smollet and his family.
Important facts:Smollett agreed to do community service and forfeit his $100,000 bond.This isn’t the case being dropped because he’s innocent, he cut a deal. The state doesn’t have to prove its case and pockets $100 K, Smollett gets to claim he’s innocent and maybe save his career.No. There was no community service at any point. And the charges were straight-up dropped, with prejudice, meaning they can’t ever charge him again. And they did this when LITERALLY EVERYONE believed Smollett faked the whole thing. AND Rahm Emanuel and the Police Superintendent are screaming about how Jussie was let off for nothing. Also, he forfeits 1/10 of the bond. Maybe I’m not getting something, but if they wanted to avoid a trial they could have offered him a plea with no jail time, record expunged after awhile, community service, public apology, whatever. Instead, they gave up everything in return for pocket change. Maybe I’m missing something but nothing about this makes sense.
He forfeited the 10K deposit he put down on his bond, not the full 100K. The “community service” was mentioned in the state’s attorney’s statement, but is not part of any formal deal. This is not a standard deferred prosecution or plea bargain. The charges were dropped without any formal strings or requirements put on Smollett.
So now did the thing that didn’t happen actually happen? Also, who is this guy and what is Empire? I assume it’s a tv show or something.
He forfeited a $100,000 bond and is doing community service – but he won’t have a criminal record or do jail time. You can draw your own conclusions.
$100,000 bond for whatever this was? Seems high.
The real question is how this “emergency session” ties into the announcement that Mark Geragos, his attorney, is being listed as a co-conspirator alongside Michael Avenatti in the Nike extortion case. No way these two things aren’t related. Another noteworthy tidbit: He had to agree to community service and to forfeiting his bond to the City of Chicago. Something’s not adding up here. I’m inclined to believe that Smollet may have just become a Federal witness. This is far from over.
Or for $100,000, he gets to claim he’s innocent and maybe save his career.
It was 10 thousand, not 100.
Or the cops violated the 4th amendment during the investigation or some similar misconduct.
Yeah it’s pretty likely that the cops did something wrong during the investigation and the charges were forced to be dropped due to police misconduct.
I suppose that’s possible, but why does he have to forfeit the $100,000 bond, then…?
Whoa, whoa, are you sayin’ that Chicago cops might not be completely honest and by-the-book?
No need to single out “Chicago” cops.
“He had to agree to community service…”I don’t know why people keep saying this, but it is just incorrect. It has been confirmed by the DA that community service is not required of Smollett. The only thing kept was his $10,000 bond. This is not a plea agreement. It’s some kind of weird criminal “settlement,” but it’s not like a plea deal. They legit just dropped everything for a piece of change.
That came directly from a statement made by the Cook County State’s attorney’s office.
According to ABC News, the Cook County Prosecutor spokesperson said the exact opposite:“While it was not immediately clear what prompted prosecutors to drop the charges against Smollett, a spokesperson for the Cook County State Attorney’s Office noted that the actor will forfeit a $100,000 bond. The spokesperson, however, said that there was no plea deal, but rather an “agreement,” and that no community service will be required of Smollett.“After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”The volunteer service referenced is past service, not service he is required to perform according to the “agreement.”https://abcnews.go.com/US/empire-actor-jussie-smollett-appears-emergency-court-hearing/story?id=61951756&cid=clicksource_4380645_null_hero_hed
And that agreement sounds fishy for the fact that if he claims he never lied and this was real , what are you agreeing to? Maybe it’s kind of like the final season of the Wire , his lawyers found some thing shady and the Chicago Police felt that they knew he lied but can’t prove it and/or fucked up some kind of way so they both decide to just drop everything and go about their way.
Most cases don’t go to trial. I was set to testify against this guy who was harrasing me at work. I called a couple of days before and they said that the defendant made a deal.
This damn story is breaking my brain.
Or, as some would call it, TOTAL EXONERATION.
WBEZ, the NPR affiliate here, confirmed this morning that Smollet did community service earlier this week in preparation for this motion. Specifically, he “worked at Rainbow PUSH.”
Huh. This feels interesting, if true. Forfeiting his bond doesn’t sound like a clean slate…
Exactly my thought.
It’s unclear from this article whether the charges were dropped “with prejudice” (ie: the DA swears never to touch the matter again) or without (wherein the DA may bring charges again if further evidence comes to light) but at least for now he can claim as a matter of legal fact that the state dropped charges of its own volition and he is (legally) presumptively innocent until someone secures a conviction in a court. The specific details of the settlement don’t have much of a bearing on that: he’s not under indictment, he’s not been convicted and that’s pretty much the end of it.Whether anyone finds the whole thing credible from a non-legal perspective is a matter of taste, but I’m perfectly willing to believe that the CPD somehow screwed the pooch so hard that they were going to get reamed in court because that is 100% in character for them.
Watching the press conference with Rahm and the Superintendent (Sundays on the WB!) tells me that might be closer to the truth. Someone fucked up the investigation and it was going to be embarrassing to continue. Or someone came in with a truck load of money and power… Chicago…? Oprah? I’m going with Oprah. Oprah forced them to drop the charges.Please forward all replies to my reddit account.
It was like 3 weeks or so ago when police spox, Sgt. Rocco, who was investigating the leaks said “I would like to point out that a lot of the information out there was inaccurate”
Let’s not forget that Jussie’s sister Jurnee was on Full House with the recently-arrested Aunt Becky. We’re going to need tto call inAlex Jones to come up with a conspiracy theory that covers all of this.
It’s only ten grand. You only pay ten percent of your bond.
No, you’re assuming he paid a bail bondsman 10K to front the full 100K. The 100K is to insure his appearance, if he doesn’t show up, the bondsman is out 100K and then hunts him down to recover. But if he shows up, the bail bondsman gets back his 100K, but he’s still out the 10K he paid the bondsman. But if he has to forfeit the full 100K to the court/city, then he has to come up with the 100K himself.What’s more likely is that he used his personal wealth and put up the 100K of his own money, because then he keeps the full amount if he shows up to court. Either way, the court is going to get the 100k from somewhere, either him, or, his bondsman through him. He’s gonna be out the surrendered 100K either way.
I’m not assuming shit. Other articles literally say ten thousand.
They didn’t require him to do community service in exchange for dropping the charges — they were referring to volunteer work that he already does, not requiring anything new.
I stand corrected.
No, a fine was always what he was going to receive. He is a first time offender so jail time was very unlikely.
Well, colour me both surprised AND confused as fuck.I always knew someone was lying … but I’m at a loss as to who now.
“Everyone” is an entirely reasonable take. Sometimes the moral of the story is just that there are better things to spend our time on.
So are the 2 Nigerian brothers now going to be charged with assault and a hate crime?
They’re actually the Governor of Illinois, now.
That’s a movie I want to see now.
Yeah this makes no sense.
TMZ is saying that the check he gave them was really for athletic training like he claimed.
So are they lying now? I thought they released a statement through their attorney expressing remorse for committing a fake crime.
I don’t have a clue.
Well there is still that CCTV footage of them buying rope, red cap, ski masks etc. in the store
The Nigerians I’ve spoken to on the phone always seemed very trustworthy
But it’s only the Princes that you can trust.
I posted this under The Root, but I am sure that will get me banned somehow. This is really simple. Although there was a lot of fishy stuff that pointed to him being guilty, the big smoking gun was the check. But since the check could also be claimed to be paying for training the whole case is hard to prove. So they dropped it.But on the other hand, they did NOT actually just drop it. Smollett agreed to forfeit his bond for them to drop it. So in the end, they were not sure if it was worth all the money to prosecute, and agreed to end it for a $10,000 fine (the forfeited bond).You also have the attorney for the brothers saying that they feel betrayed and used by Smollett this morning, so obviously THEY think something happened that he is getting away with.
So you’re telling me that the Chicago PD — recently famous for maintaining an off-the-books “black site” facility where they would torture suspects into confessions without lawyers present — may not have been the Holmsian geniuses who cracked this case after all?*faints dead away*
Holmesian.
Nope. The prosecutors said the cpd did nothing wrong, but this was too minor of a case to move forward. They even went out of their way to say they believe he’s guilty
The prosecutor who dropped the charges against Jussie Smollett said he still believes the actor lied to the police about the racist and homophobic attack he allegedly staged in Chicago in January.In a surprise hearing Tuesday, Joe Magats, the first assistant state’s attorney in Cook County, Illinois, announced he decided to drop charges against Smollett. The stunning reversal 18 days after a grand jury indicted the “Empire” actor on felony disorderly conduct outraged the Chicago mayor and police department.The decision to drop the charges does not mean the actor was innocent or any new evidence was presented, Magats told CNN affiliate WLS.“We believe he did what he was charged with doing,” he said. “This was not an exoneration. To say he was exonerated by us or anyone else is not true.”He said charges are dropped in thousands of cases, but Smollett’s case is getting scrutinized because he is a celebrity.“There are plenty of other cases … over 5,700 that have gotten some type of alternative or deferred type of prosecution involving a dismissal at the end of the case,” he said. “To think that there is some type of infirmity or something that we learned about the case or something that we don’t want aired is not true.”So it looks like CPD actually did their job just fine in this case, and Jussie Smollett is most certainly guilty as sin, but the prosecutor felt it wasn’t worth going forward.
What an absolute disgrace.
Notably, AV Club neglected to include this bit:
Transparently political and corrupt. And Smollett is still going out there spiking the football, Trumpily claiming that he’s been vindicated and proven innocent when we can all see he’s guilty. Complete sociopath.This is what privilege looks like.
I have such emotional whiplash from this. Regardless of if he’s innocent or guilty, why go through the whole grand jury process, and publicly dragging his name through the mud, if you’re just going to drop all charges? Something doesn’t add up here, and it hasn’t from the beginning. I just don’t know enough to know who/what is up to shady shit.
Sooooo, I’m thinking a few other people from some of the last posts about this might want to look into offering up an apology or two? Not that they will, but you know.
I bet you wouldn’t be posting this if the headline was ‘all sexual assault charges against Jussie Smollett have been dropped’. Just a feeling I have.
If there was a victim who had actually come forward and accused him, of course not. Was there anything like that in this instance? Or is it completely not comparable and you’re making a shitty disingenuous false equivalence?
I bet you wouldn’t be posting this if the headline was ‘all sexual assault charges against Jussie Smollett have been dropped’. Just a feeling I have. “I bet if the circumstances were different, you would behave differently! I am a brain genius!”
You’re more likely to get a rhinoceros to understand general relativity than you are to get recognitions to understand an inconvenient analogy.
Hey, are you ever going to apologize for claiming that people who disagreed with you are rapists?Not that you will, but you know.
Nope because that never happened. You’re really bad at this by the way
Then whose the person who posted this:Yeah, no if someone’s banging on about how a movement that’s bringing down men who have perpetuating sexual abuse on women for decades and ruining their careers in the process is actually a witchhunt dedicated to destroying innocent men I’m just gonna assume that they’ve got something in their past that they’re very nervous about coming to light.Because that person has problems. Deep seated emotional issues that require professional help.Seriously, you were reminded of this post less than 24 hours ago. Is your memory that selective?
Please explain to me how that says “people who disagree with me are rapists” You’re really bad at this
Current reportage says that the prosecutor’s office is specifically not exonerating him–they still think he faked the crime, they just don’t think charges are worth pursuing.
https://twitter.com/luvthispayne/status/1110564706379542528
Is that a reporter?Anyway. Something clearly went wrong somewhere, and apparently we’ll never know what.Rampant speculation: During the time he was being treated as a “victim,” a lot of evidence was exposed which wouldn’t be permissible in court because he wasn’t read his Miranda rights (or some similar technicality). Then when he changed from “victim” to “perpetrator” the prosecutor’s office took a few weeks to realize “holy shit, we don’t have a case because all this evidence is inadmissible”That’s my (very uneducated) guess.
Lawyer
Does a guilty person getting off mean that you will be less of a complete fucking failure at life? No? Huh. Well congrats. Now please do everyone a favor and kill yourself.
You should kill yourself. I mean that so sincerely.
I’m incredibly sorry that people with wealth and the access to good lawyers can completely evade justice for their criminal acts.
Maybe the prosecutor decided that prosecuting a “victimless” crime was not a good use of state resources, and Smollett forfeiting his bond was punishment enough. Or maybe Smollett is innocent! It seems bizarre that the state has no responsibility to inform the public whether it believes Smollett staged the crime or whether there are rampaging MAGA chuds attacking people on the street.
He probably is guilty as hell, however the worst people online are having breakdowns over this, so good for him.
4 tweets with more actual information than the article.
I imagine the real truth will make all parties look really bad. Bad enough that Jussie is willing to lose his bond, and bad enough that Chicago is willing to lose a little face by dropping the charges.
Tbh how much do you think $10,000 is worth to a famous television star who is about to get a sweet book deal?
About $10,000.
I was told there would be no math.
You’d think that after all the twists and turns in this case, people would be done speculating and wait for more information to come out. But nah…
Preposterous! It’s critically important that random yahoos on the Internet have their underinformed opinions blasted through cyberspace into everyone’s faces as fast as humanly possible. If we had to wait a day or two before forming an opinion on something that basically has no real effect on us, why, imagine the calm and peace that would reign! Madness!
Naysayers got to say “LOL I TOLD YA SO!” after the CPD gave its ‘evidence’, so now the sanctimonious commentariat get to come back and say “I TOLD YA SO LOL!” We live in hell.
No clue what went on with Smollett, but I think we can safely agree that the CPD is always guilty.
He is not in the clear. The FBI is still investigating whether he mailed himself a death threat. That would be a federal crime.I’d love to see Jussie sit down with a better interviewer. “There’s a video of your friends buying rope, ski masks and a red cap. Care to explain that?”I have a feeling that won’t happen.
Oh, wow, I guess this means he really didn’t stage the whole thing, then.
Can life stop imitating DeviantArt for two goddamned seconds?
the minute the first of the statements that seemed to indicate Smollett had lied was reported (but before the announcement by the head of the CPD flaying him in public) the WSJ went whole hog in on how Smollett should be [whatever they said instead of “lynched”], I just was like “I love that you are willing to get so far out ahead of this story, let’s see how that goes.” And I’m still not sure how it’s going, I’m just generally sad about humanity, and actors, and cops, and racist journalists, but I’m not jumping in on anything having happened. The other day somebody was posting about the democrats and Avenatti and I was like…why the heck is Avenatti the democrats’ fault or problem? He’s more Trump sludge run-off. Whenever anyone would say “isn’t it great this guy is going all in on Trump” I’d say “don’t feed the animals.” Same here, I don’t see how sane people are really to blame for this clusterfuck of a clusterfuck.
Although you won’t see it in the AV Club’s write up, Chicago media is reporting the assistant prosecutor as basically saying they believe Jussie faked the crime, they just don’t think its important enough to charge him.
That’s not what happened at all or even what they’re saying. They did charge him, it’s just that the charges were dropped and the case is over for reasons they haven’t clarified yet.
correct, I misspoke. The prosecutor’s office dropped the charges because they felt the case was not important enough to continue. I concede to you that there could have been other reasons—i.e., too difficult to prosecute, not enough evidence, poor investigations—that also factored into their calculus. I also believe Kim Foxx won’t be reelected. Why she wanted to sacrifice her career for a bit player on a marginally watched television show is beyond me.
Although you won’t see it in the AV Club’s write up, Chicago media is reporting the assistant prosecutor as basically saying they believe Jussie faked the crime, they just don’t think its important enough to charge him.That’s not what anyone official is saying. When you believe someone is guilty but don’t want to bother with a trial, that’s what plea deals are for. Prosecutors don’t just drop the charges of guilty people and if they did there would be a huge outcry from everyone, but especially the right. If they dropped the charges it was for a reason. Given that Smollett had to agree not to sue the city, I’m guessing they acted in a way that would reflect very badly on them. Otherwise, why make that a condition at all?
Otherwise, why make that a condition at all?
Because $$$?
That’s not what anyone official is saying. When you believe someone is guilty but don’t want to bother with a trial, that’s what plea deals are for. Prosecutors don’t just drop the charges of guilty people and if they did there would be a huge outcry from everyone, but especially the right.Lol wut? Literally the prosecutor that dropped the charges said this, so you’re completely wrong:The prosecutor who dropped the charges against Jussie Smollett said he still believes the actor lied to the police about the racist and homophobic attack he allegedly staged in Chicago in January.In a surprise hearing Tuesday, Joe Magats, the first assistant state’s attorney in Cook County, Illinois, announced he decided to drop charges against Smollett. The stunning reversal 18 days after a grand jury indicted the “Empire” actor on felony disorderly conduct outraged the Chicago mayor and police department.The decision to drop the charges does not mean the actor was innocent or any new evidence was presented, Magats told CNN affiliate WLS.“We believe he did what he was charged with doing,” he said. “This was not an exoneration. To say he was exonerated by us or anyone else is not true.”He said charges are dropped in thousands of cases, but Smollett’s case is getting scrutinized because he is a celebrity.“There are plenty of other cases … over 5,700 that have gotten some type of alternative or deferred type of prosecution involving a dismissal at the end of the case,” he said. “To think that there is some type of infirmity or something that we learned about the case or something that we don’t want aired is not true.”
The writing on this show just sucks. This would never happen in real life.
The county prosecutor’s office did not say new evidence came to life, that he is exonerated or anything. It said he’s done charity work and forfeited his bond, which is a “just” conclusion to this saga.Fucking bizarre.
Yeah, but it still screams of privilege (class).
didn’t the 2 brothers get pulled off a plane to/from Nigeria and admit they were in on it?
Some sort of privilege on display here. Fuck you Justice.
What the hell? This is so confusing.
Maybe he was entrapped somehow?
welp
In legalese, it was nolle prossed (nolle prosequi). See it all the time in minor drug cases with first time offenders. Prosecutors basically say they are giving a person a 2nd chance and they will drop charges. Its NOT an acquittal or exoneration as prosecutors can refile the original charges if a person offends again. Basically prosecutors said “eh, he is generally a decent guy so we’ll let it slide this time.” (hence the reference to his community service and Smollett having to forfeit his bond, if he had been wrongfully charged he wouldn’t be paying the government) So the facts od the case didn’t change, he paid the Nigerian dudes to fake the assault, prosecutors just decided Smollett should get a mulligan.
So, what about the guys who did it? It sounds like the CPD knows who they are if they thought Smollett had been in league
with them. Are the guys Smollett was supposedly in contact with
actually the ones who did it? And are charges being pursued against
them? Or are they being exonerated as well, while CPD keeps hunting for the real culprits? I feel like the details of WHO attacked Smollett is the missing angle that could make this whole thing make sense.
Of course, it didn’t take long for conservatives to make up all kinds of conspiracy malarkey to explain this. Some of the top ones:1. Democrat Chicago hooked up one of their own. Jussie especially called up the Obamas and Emmanuel and they released him.2. Because the court system is sooooo PC, they let him, a gay black man go.
Conservatives can only get hard when a black dude suffers I guess?
And the Mayor of Chicago said, just for the record, that this is a grave misjustice.But of course, you don’t give a shit about Trump supporters or what actually happened, and EVEN the prosecutors said this doesn’t mean he didn’t do it (the Hoax). You people are despicable. Imagine if you ever had power? You’re Evil.
Seriously, you guys don’t give a shit about the Truth. You just hate certain people and you want to kill them.
So what do you run on when you don’t care about the truth, about compassion, or about National Security?
Nothing.
The outrage mostly now stems from white MAGA morons who are now mad that he got the white man’s treatment. Irony this thick should be illegal.
I can’t wait for this lifetime movie.
Guess it doesn’t matter. the damage is done.
That’s what happens when the corrupt CPD deliberately grandstand and essentially try him in the Court of Public Opinion by constantly leaking information to boost their profile. Even the FBI were saying some of the claims made about things they were investigating – the letter for example – were not proven yet and premature to make, but the CPD and tons of folks in the media ran with it. Not that I trust the Feds either, but still.
The folks who once said he set us “real victims” back must feel hella silly right about now.
The folks who once said he set us “real victims” back must feel hella silly right about now.Not really. No question he faked his own attack. Between the personal check, the CCTV footage of the pair buying supplies, the texts and phone call time line, there was literally an orgy of evidence. The only question is why he got off. I guess maybe the rich and famous aren’t treated the same as regular people. Go figure.
The personal check and texts confirming he was paying them as early as last year for training services? The video that put them in a beauty supply shop – this ironically wasn’t leaked by the police – and plenty of other shyt that threw their definitive investigation into question, including a phone record that didn’t implicate him during the time of the alleged attack, not including their outrageous narrative regarding the letter supposedly being fabricated when even the FBI claimed that statement was premature?
And yes, they do look silly. Even supposing he would’ve been convicted, him literally getting caught when less than 100 out of thousands of reported hate crimes are false would have no bearing on the validity of those who report actual attacks. But you don’t like facts and you never caped for Queer Black folks in the first place if a wealthy person with privileges none of us ever have would’ve affected our credibility in your eyes.
People watch ESPN?
Now reported that Jussie did 16 hours of community services on Saturday / Monday for PUSH in Chicago. That + the $10K restitution was all that was needed. Crazy.
That’s less than 10k USD per felony. What a deal!
Wait, it’s been “Jussie” and not “Jessie” the entire time? I’ve just been Berenstain’d!
I’ve been calling him Crandall!
I don’t know what to think, and that’s the way I like it!
LMMFAO, the trolls who “banished” me to the greys for a. not immediately and wholeheartedly crucifying Jussie Smollett (or assuming CPD is anything other than a worthless hub of corruption) and b. making one joke they didn’t like about their troll ringleader’s Kinja handle— are nowhere in sight today!! 😀 It’s almost like— they don’t really have guts… #groupthinkOh, and AVC, start recognizing which commenters are the veterans of this kind of shit, at some point…
You got banished to the greys for acting like a lunatic. And you’re going to stay there until you learn to act like a normal human being.
“You got banished to the greys”– says somebody in the greys!!! 😀 😀 And, as I wasn’t born yesterday, I know exactly who gave him his one upvote. 😀
Do you also know the identities of the two dozen people who upvoted the comment telling you to seek therapy?
Nobody in their right mind should think Smollett is innocent because of this.
I’d have kept hold of that money if I was him, he won’t be seeing that much again anytime soon.$100k for faking a hate crime that managed to piss off two communities at once.
Celebrity justice. So either Smollet staged a hate crime and got away with it, or his Nigerian trainer staged a hate crime and got away with it. Meanwhile, actual hate crimes are on the rise and conservatives are still having a field day. As someone who worked on hate crime legislation, I’m disgusted with the whole business.
Does this mean that the two immigrant people of colour, who have 100% admitted to the attack will now be arrested and charge for being homophobic white supremacists that shout Trump slogans, (and are also according to the “victim” two white people)?
NO COLLUSION, NO COLLUSION, TOTALLY EXONERATED!!!!
That’s how this works, right?