"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett is not out of the woods yet. Although the Cook County State's Attorney's Office dropped all charges against the actor related to his scandalous hate crime hoax in March, a special prosecutor is now on his case. Cook County Judge Michael Toomin made the surprise decision to appoint the prosecutor on Friday, he explained, because this case was "floundered." People are angry, and he's hoping this will help to regain Chicagoans' trust.
“There was no master on the bridge to guide the ship as it floundered through uncharted waters, and it ultimately lost its bearings,” Toomin wrote in the 21-page opinion. “... The unprecedented irregularities identified in this case warrants the appointment of independent counsel to restore the public’s confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system.” (Chicago Tribune)
Former state appellate judge Sheila O’Brien, who called for the special prosecutor to look into Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's decision to let Smollett off scot-free, cheered the judge's ruling.
“We’ll get the truth, the whole truth, under oath, and that’s what this is about,” O’Brien promised.
This mess all started in January, when Smollett reported a hate crime to the Chicago police. He claimed he had been attacked in the middle of the night by two masked President Trump supporters who ambushed him because he is a gay, black man. The police exposed a few plot holes in Smollett's story, and eventually his two supposed attackers revealed that the actor had paid them to attack him. Authorities concluded it was all a publicity stunt. And a costly one at that. Smollett's alleged scheme hurt Chicago in both a financial and ethical sense, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
"Is there no decency in this man?" the mayor asked in March, after Smollett's charges were dropped.
Smollett has exonerated himself, telling the press that he has been "truthful and consistent on every single level from day one."
Should the special prosector find evidence wrongdoing in his investigation, however, those charges against the actor may reappear.
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