UPDATE #2: 12:21 P.M. PST: On Tuesday afternoon, at a press conference alongside Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called Smollett’s dropped charges a “whitewash of justice” which “sends a clear message that if you’re in a position of influence and power, you’ll get treated one way.”
Read his full quote (below):
“One thing is not only do I support the hard work of our police officers, the detective unit, I’d like to remind everybody a grand jury indicted this individual based on only a piece of the evidence that the police had collected in that period of time. So the grand jury, actually, brought the charges. I think there are two things, three things I’d like to say.
One, on financial cost, this $10,000 doesn’t even come close to what the city spent in resources to actually look over the cameras, gather all the data, gather all the information that actually brought the indictment by the grand jury on many, many multiple different charges.
Second, is what I would call the ethical cost. The ethical cost is as a person who was in the House of Representatives when we tried to pass the Shepard legislation that dealt with hate crimes, putting them on the books, that President Obama then signed into law; to then use those very laws and the principles and values behind the Matthew Shepard hate crimes legislation to self-promote your career is a cost that comes to all the individuals.
Gay men and women who will come forward and one day say they were a victim of a hate crime now will be doubted. People of faith—Muslim or any other religious faith who will be a victim of hate crimes; people of also of all walks of life, of backgrounds, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, now this casts a shadow of whether they’re telling the truth and he did this all in the name of self-promotion. And he used the laws of the hate crime legislation that all of us collectively over years have put on the books to stand up to be the values that embody what we believe in.
This is a whitewash of justice. A grand jury could not have been clearer.
To then say, not only is the cost $10,000 doesn’t come close financially, but all the other repercussions of this decision made, I mean, where is the accountability in the system? You cannot have, because of a person’s position, one set of rules apply to them and another set of rules apply to everybody else.
In another way, you’re seeing this play out in the universities, where people pay extra to get their kids a special position in universities.
Now you have a person because of their position and background who’s getting treated in a way that nobody else would ever… that would ever get close to this type of treatment.
Our officers did hard work day in and day out, countless hours, working to unwind what actually happened that night.
The city saw its reputation dragged through the mud. But I remind everybody it was not just the officers’ work. That work, a piece of that work, was shown to a grand jury and they made a decision based on only a sliver of the evidence.
If I remember correctly, somebody wanted to have evidence and, as the superintendent said, their day in court so all of the evidence could be made public. Because of the judge’s decision, none of that evidence will ever be made public. None of it.
This is without of 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 in the system.
It is wrong, full stop.”
———-
UPDATE: 9:17 A.M. PST: Smollett spoke out to the press following the court appearance. Watch what he had to say (below).
JUST IN: “I have been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one.”
Jussie Smollett speaks outside Chicago courthouse for the first time as all criminal charges are dropped against him.
FULL STORY: https://t.co/FKZXOY0rHe pic.twitter.com/ktzaj1L0TC
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 26, 2019
____________________
All charges against Jussie Smollett have been dropped by the Cook County (Ill.) District Attorney.
The Empire star is now legally in the clear after accusations over the last couple of months that he may have staged his alleged attack in Chicago. Police officially dropped all charges against Smotllett on Tuesday after the state of Illinois filed a motion to dismiss the case, and the judge signed off on it, according to CBS Chicago.
Related: Lee Daniels Speaks Out About Jussie And The ‘Empire’ Cast
According to TMZ, Smollett will have to surrender his $10,000 bond, but that’s it. Other than that, it appears that this case is over — and Jussie will walk away relatively unscathed (at least from a legal perspective).
Chicago police officials are reportedly “furious” about this resolution to the case — and they are blaming State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
Per media reports, Foxx apparently told the Chicago PD that she was dropping the case “because Jussie would have only gotten community service if convicted.” According to Foxx, that meant there was no point in prosecuting the actor over the alleged hoax, because he had reportedly already performed community service.
As TMZ notes, though, there is no record of the 36-year-old performing community service — and that has the police heated.
Related: Good Thing Jussie Pled Not Guilty!
Now completely free from the burden of those sixteen felony charges, the TV star’s attorney released a statement about the dismissal this morning (below):
“Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him. Jussie was attacked by two people he was unable to identify on January 29th. He was 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. Jussie and many others were hurt by these unfair and unwarranted actions. This entire situation is a reminder that there should never be an attempt to prove a case in the court of public opinion. That is wrong. It 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.”
Clearly, they are maintaining the actor’s initial claims — that the attack did occur, and that he was the victim of a hate crime.
The former Mighty Ducks star’s family also released a statement about the charges being dropped, telling the media (below):
Statement from the Smollett family https://t.co/VWLkbsvZyV pic.twitter.com/AzWbiwRSvb
— Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) March 26, 2019
Wow!
Additionally, the writers from the hit FOX show have also responded, taking to Twitter to tease Wednesday’s episode:
???? see y’all Wednesday. #empire #empirefox pic.twitter.com/jQUtsHcQBF
— Empire Writers (@EmpireWriters) March 26, 2019
Certainly an unexpected twist today — but, well, this entire affair has had a good deal of unexpected twists over the last few months. This just marks another one… and likely the last one.
What do U think, Perezcious readers?! What’s your reaction to Jussie walking away scot-free after all those felony charges were dropped?? Sound OFF about it in the comments (below)…
[Image via WENN]
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